Paris, Sep 17 (AP) A top French diplomat spoke out on Friday about a crisis in relations with the US after Paris learned just ahead of a public announcement that Australia would favor French conventional submarines in favor of a nuclear sub built with the US. Finishing off a major purchase. Technology. The diplomat, who spoke anonymously in line with customary government practice, said for Paris it is a strategic question related to the nature of the relationship between Europe and the United States regarding the Indo-Pacific strategy.
He would not speculate about the effects of the situation on France’s relations with the US. There is a crisis, he insisted. French President Emmanuel Macron has not commented on the issue as President Joe Biden announced a strategic Indo-Pacific alliance with Australia and the UK, which would require France to shell out nearly $100 billion to build diesel-electric submarines. The deal was lost.
France has pushed for a European strategy for many years to boost economic, political and defense ties in a region spanning from India and China to Japan and New Zealand. The European Union this week unveiled its plan for the Indo-Pacific. Macron received a letter from Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Wednesday morning announcing the decision to scrap the submarine deal, a French diplomat said on Friday.
French officials then decided to reach out to the US administration “to ask what was going on,” he said. He said discussions with Washington took place two to three hours before Biden’s public announcement. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian on Thursday did not fully understand the move and criticized both Australia and the US.
He compared Biden’s move under Trump’s America First principle with that of his predecessor, Donald Trump. The diplomat said Paris had raised the issue of the Indo-Pacific strategy during US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to Paris on June 25, expressing the importance of its submarine program with Australia.
We said this is a very important and important component of our Indo-Pacific strategy. Blinken met Macron during the trip. The French diplomat said that during a meeting between Macron and Morrison in Paris on June 15, Australia had never mentioned France before its desire to move to nuclear-powered submarines. (AP).
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