In an interview with the newspaper The echoesthe President of the Republic defended a European “strategic autonomy” vis-à-vis the United States, calling not to “be a follower” of the Americans.
Would Emmanuel Macron be an ungrateful ally? In any case, this is what some American officials and media suggest, after the publication on Sunday of an interview granted by the Head of State to the daily The echoes during his state visit to China.
Invited to speak on European “strategic autonomy”, a subject dear to him, Emmanuel Macron suggested that the crisis around the island of Taiwan was as much the responsibility of Beijing as of Washington, yet an ally of the France, and maintained the vagueness on the reaction which would be his in the event of a Chinese invasion.
“The worst thing would be to think that we Europeans should follow suit on this subject and adapt to the American pace and a Chinese overreaction. Why should we go at the pace chosen by the others?” particularly stated.
Then to continue: “Our priority is not to adapt to the agenda of others in the regions of the world”.
“Troubling” statements
“While I appreciate the longstanding and strategically important alliance between the United States and France, President Macron’s visits to Moscow and Beijing are troubling,” the Republican senator from Carolina said in polite language. of the South Lindsey Graham.
For the latter, by going to Beijing to convey such a message there, the French president would only reinforce the narrative that China is trying to impose, which launched new military simulations around Taiwan last weekend, with “total encirclement” exercises.
“The last thing we need is for Western leaders to visit capitals occupied by autocratic dictators pushing narratives they can use to justify and encourage further aggression,” Lindsey Graham wrote.
The issue of US military aid to Ukraine
In a less polite tone, Republican Senator from Florida Marco Rubio asked the European Union to clarify whether Emmanuel Macron was expressing his personal opinion or that of the 27.
“Is he the most powerful European leader?”, pretended to ask himself the senator, before attacking the President of the Republic more frontally: “When Macron tried to play the global power in sending soldiers to North Africa, he was not even able to send them with his own means. We (the Americans, editor’s note) had to send them and bring them back”.
Moreover, for Marco Rubio, if indeed the European Union wishes to achieve total autonomy, Washington should reconsider its support for Ukraine, within the framework of a war which is taking place on European soil.
“We are spending a lot of money from our taxpayers on the war in Ukraine”, he recalled, 32.2 billion euros in military assistance to be exact, as reported The world.
A sequence that will “leave traces”
“This episode will leave traces with our partners in Europe and the Indo-Pacific, but also within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of the Armed Forces. Thought of those who work there and will have to manage the consequences”, estimated the China specialist Antoine Bondaz.
On the other side of the Atlantic, it is a supposed ingratitude of the French president which goes badly, four years after previous remarks on the supposed “brain death of NATO” which had already aroused misunderstanding.
In a editorial vitriolic, the Wall Street Journal estimated on April 9 that “Emmanuel Macron likes to imagine himself as Charles de Gaulle of the 21st century, which includes distancing Europe from the United States”.
“Without American weapons and intelligence, Russia would have long since overthrown Ukraine and perhaps one or more countries bordering NATO”, continues the daily, which considers the words of the head of state “useless”. .
“Mr. Macron wants the United States to come to the rescue of Europe against Russian aggression, but apparently takes a vow of neutrality against Chinese aggression in the Pacific. Thank you very much, mate”, retorts the editorial.
On the side of the White House, the spokesman for the National Security Council John Kirby limited himself to highlighting the “excellent bilateral relationship” between France and the United States on Monday.
A desire to “lower tensions”
Faced with the controversy triggered by this speech, some relatives of the president have clarified in the media the thoughts of the head of state. “There is no desire to let Taiwan be invaded by China. On the contrary, there is the desire to reduce tensions,” explained on France Inter this Tuesday Stéphane Séjourné, secretary general of Renaissance.
The former French ambassador to the United States Gérard Araud for his part brought another point of view on Twitter, believing that in terms of international politics, naivety in the face of Washington cannot be appropriate.
“The Sino-American rivalry is not the fight of good against evil, freedom against oppression but a geopolitical confrontation written on the map, which results from the millennial logic of international relations,” wrote the former Diplomat.
