EU should keep strategic autonomy, avoid being snared in anti-China moves, French leader says
French President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech to the Nexus Institute in the Amare Theatre in The Hague on April 11, 2023 as part of a state visit to the Netherlands. (PHOTO / AFP)
French President Emmanuel Macron has urged Europe to reduce its dependence on the United States and avoid getting caught up in confrontation between the US and China.
He made the comments last week during a three-day trip to China, which experts said had contributed to bilateral relations and hopes of a peaceful settlement of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
In an interview with reporters aboard a French presidential aircraft flying from Beijing to Guangzhou, Guangdong province, on April 7,
Macron stressed the importance of Europe’s “strategic autonomy” to become a “third superpower”.
He said “the great risk” Europe faces is that it “gets caught up in crises that are not ours, which prevents it from building its strategic autonomy”, news website Politico reported on April 9.
Macron put forward the idea of the European Union’s strategic autonomy in September 2017, four months after becoming president.
“The paradox would be that, overcome with panic, we believe we are just America’s followers,” he said. “The question Europeans need to answer … is it in our interest to accelerate (a crisis) on Taiwan? No.”
Tensions across the Taiwan Straits have increased following Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen’s meeting with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California on April 5 during her provocative “transit” trip. In response, China’s People’s Liberation Army carried out drills from April 8 to 10, including simulated strikes against key targets on the island of Taiwan and in its surrounding waters.
“Europeans cannot resolve the crisis in Ukraine; how can we credibly say on Taiwan, ‘watch out, if you do something wrong we will be there’? If you really want to increase tensions that’s the way to do it,” Macron said.
He also said Europe had increased its dependence on the US for weapons and energy and must now focus on boosting European defense industries.
He added that Europe should reduce its dependence on the “extraterritoriality of the US dollar”.
“If the tensions between two superpowers heat up … we won’t have the time or the resources to finance our strategic autonomy and we will become vassals,” Macron said.
Many Europeans have complained about the “weaponization” of its reserve currency by the US, which has forced European companies to cut business ties with third countries or face secondary sanctions.
Late on April 9, Macron posted on Twitter a video clip of his three-day visit to China in which he said: “I feel at ease with (President Xi Jinping), including on substance. There is a mutual attraction between France and China, a fascination, a friendship, a singular journey.”
Experts hailed Macron’s state visit to China as a great success, saying it will help promote peace, cooperation and multilateralism.
Arnaud Bertrand, a French entrepreneur with experience in China and a commentator on geopolitics, said on Twitter on April 10, “All in all it couldn’t be clearer now, with this and Macron’s earlier communication that he (Xi) sees France as China’s foremost ally in the West to counter US-led efforts to contain the country.”
Hosuk Lee-Makiyama, director of the Brussels-based European Centre for International Political Economy, said Macron proved that Europe and China might not necessarily share the same ideal outcome regarding the Russia-Ukraine conflict, but they share the second-best option, a cease-fire that respects the United Nations Charter. Some hawks forget that diplomacy is always about pursuing the second-best option, he said.
He said both Europe and China have much to gain from strengthening trade and investment ties, from Airbus planes to renewable energy and infrastructure projects.
Erik Solheim, former under-secretary-general of the United Nations and former executive director of the UN Environment Programme, said the relationship between Europe and China is critical for peace, environment and economic recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic.
“President Macron’s visit to Beijing provides a lot of optimism for improving relations and a strong counter-narrative to all negative decoupling ideas. Trade and cooperation will increase,” he said, referring to Macron’s words last week that he opposes moves to decouple from the world’s second-largest economy.
Solheim, a Norwegian politician, said that Europe and China can be partners in peace. He added that the huge Chinese diplomatic success in bringing Iran and Saudi Arabia together and moving toward a settlement of the Yemen crisis was a brilliant backdrop for a most successful visit.
During Macron’s three-day visit to China, Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud and Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian agreed in Beijing on April 6 to resume their diplomatic relations and reopen embassies in each other’s country within 60 days.
Jean-Pierre Raffarin, who served as French prime minister from 2002 to 2005 under then-president Jacques Chirac, accompanied Macron during the visit. “I participated in more than 20 Sino-French state visits. The one just made by the French President (Macron) seems to be one of the most important,” he said in a tweet on April 9.
Tomasz Michalski, associate professor of the Economics and Decision Science Department at HEC Paris, said the European Union nation’s recent growth model is based on the peace dividend after the Cold War and worldwide trade.
“France sees the solution to many important world problems, such as energy transition and limiting climate change and lowering Earth’s pollution, as only possible through mutual cooperation,” Michalski said.
A 51-point joint declaration between China and France issued on April 7 covers a wide range of areas for cooperation, from strengthening political dialogue, promoting political mutual trust and global security and stability to enhancing economic cooperation, human and cultural exchanges and jointly responding to global challenges.
