The French ambassador to Australia, who had been recalled to Paris after the cancellation by the Australians of a mega-contract for French submarines on the sidelines of the creation of an alliance with the United States and the United Kingdom, will return to Canberra, announced Wednesday, October 6, the head of French diplomacy.
“I have now asked our Ambassador to return to Canberra with two missions: to help redefine the terms of our relationship with Australia in the future. (…) and firmly defend our interests in the concrete implementation of Australia’s decision to end the future submarine program ”, declared Jean-Yves Le Drian during a hearing at the National Assembly.
Denouncing a ” treason “, a “Duplicity” and one “Contempt” On behalf of its allies, Paris recalled its ambassadors to Australia and the United States on September 17, an unprecedented gesture towards these two countries. Philippe Etienne has since returned to Washington on September 29, following an explanation between Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron on September 23 by telephone. Mr. Le Drian did not specify when Jean-Pierre Thébault would return to his post in Canberra.
New interview between Macron and Biden
In addition, the head of diplomacy announced that the American presidents, Joe Biden, and French, Emmanuel Macron, will speak again on the phone, in mid-October. “Our in-depth consultations are continuing with a view to a new meeting that our two presidents will have in mid-October, then [d’]a possible meeting in Europe around the G20 meeting to be held at the end of October ”, argued Mr. Le Drian.
While the Australian, then American and British announcements had triggered the fury of Paris, Emmanuel Macron received, Tuesday, the American Secretary of State, Antony Blinken. The two leaders had a “Long tete-a-tete” who should “To help restore confidence between France and the United States”, declared the Elysee.
Indeed, almost at the same time as Australia announced the termination of its contract with France for twelve conventionally powered submarines, the leaders of the latter country, the United States and the United Kingdom announced the creation of a new alliance in the Indo-Pacific region, called Aukus. France was not included in this strategic partnership, although it was very present in the region.
France “fully engaged” in the Indo-Pacific zone
“It goes without saying that the overhaul of our bilateral cooperation will have no impact on our determination to remain fully engaged in the Indo-Pacific”, underlined the minister, also believing that Australia was making a “Leap into the unknown, by preferring nuclear-powered devices to French submarines. There would be a lot to say both about the abandonment of sovereignty represented by this program and about the leap into the unknown that the Australians have in choosing to resort to a technology which they do not master, which they do not understand. will not control in the future and which therefore put them entirely at the mercy of developments in American policy ”, he said.
They did the “Choice of security, justified by the worsening of current tensions with China, to the detriment of sovereignty”, he hammered. “I wish our Australian partner not to discover in the future that he will have sacrificed both”, launched the head of French diplomacy.
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