French President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday April 12 during a visit to the Netherlands that being “ally” of the United States did not necessarily mean being « vassal »fully assuming controversial comments made on Taiwan.
“The Taiwan region is a powder keg”
“Being an ally does not mean being a vassal. It’s not because we are allies, that we do things together (…) that we no longer have the right to think for ourselves ”he said at a press conference in Amsterdam after a meeting with Prime Minister Mark Rutte. “And that we will follow the people who are the toughest in a country that is allied with us”he added in an apparent allusion to the officials of the Republican Party, very offensive on China.
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“France is for the status quo in Taiwan”elle “supports the one-China policy and the search for a peaceful settlement of the situation”he added.
“We are for the status quo”
Emmanuel Macron sparked a wave of misunderstanding in the United States and Europe by calling on the European Union not to be “follower” from Washington or Beijing on the issue of Taiwan. Remarks immediately interpreted as a distancing from Washington while the United States has been very committed to Ukraine since the start of the Russian offensive.
“Macron, who is a friend, is with China licking his ass”added former US President Donald Trump.
“The position of France and the Europeans is the same for Taiwan: we are for the status quo”however, said the French president in Amsterdam. “This policy is constant, it has not changed” he added.
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Emmanuel Macron also deplored that Donald Trump contributes to a “climbing that is sought after by some”. “When he was president I did not comment on his sentences I will not do it now that he is no longer president”, did he declare. Conversely, he hailed the will of US Democratic President Joe Biden “to avoid any escalation despite the current tensions”.
China/United States: the battle for Taiwan
In France, the leader of rebellious France Jean-Luc Mélenchon gave him “right” to Emmanuel Macron. ” Welcome to the club “he reacted in a tweet to the head of state. “But not ‘equidistant’. I prefer “non-aligned”: that excludes the idea of neutrality. And it is good to refuse vassalization by the USA. All you have to do is do it”he added.
Last summer, Jean-Luc Mélenchon had drawn the wrath of his ecologist and socialist allies, members of Nupes, by declaring that “Taiwan is an integral part of China”using a term defended by the regime in Beijing but refused by the authorities in Taipei.
France is not uninterested in tensions around Taiwan, a French diplomatic source had earlier underlined, recalling that a French frigate was sailing in the Taiwan Strait when China conducted its last military exercises to put pressure on the island. .
