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President Emmanuel Macron stated on Wednesday that France’s place towards Taiwan remained unchanged, however he stood by feedback he made on the island’s safety that dismayed some allies after he returned from a visit to China and insisted that Europe couldn’t be a “vassal” of the US.
“France’s place and the European place on Taiwan is identical,” Mr. Macron stated at a information convention in Amsterdam on the second day of a state go to to the Netherlands. “We’re for the established order. This coverage is fixed and hasn’t modified.”
However he additionally stated that he refused to participate in a “verbal escalation” over the island — a place he stated was shared by President Biden, who he stated had confirmed “a willingness to keep away from any escalation regardless of the present tensions.”
Coming back from a three-day tour in China, Mr. Macron drew sharp criticism from some Western allies and commentators after saying in an interview with Politico and Les Échos, a French newspaper, that it was not in Europe’s curiosity to “speed up” on the difficulty of Taiwan, a self-governing island lengthy claimed by China.
“The more serious factor can be to suppose that we Europeans should turn into followers on this matter and take our cue from the U.S. agenda and a Chinese language overreaction,” Mr. Macron stated within the interview. He stated European international locations needed to keep away from changing into vassals and being dragged right into a rising confrontation between the US and China.
Mr. Macron has made Europe’s “strategic autonomy” one of many essential thrusts of his international coverage, and he has repeatedly insisted that Europe must work intently with the US with out being depending on it.
“Being an ally doesn’t imply being a vassal,” he stated on Wednesday.
Whereas the insistence on European autonomy just isn’t new, some have questioned the timing of Mr. Macron’s feedback.
They got here as the US was offering the huge bulk of navy assist for Ukraine in its warfare with Russia, and hours earlier than China started threatening navy drills round Taiwan in response to a gathering in California days earlier of the Taiwanese president, Tsai Ing-wen, and the speaker of the U.S. Home, Consultant Kevin McCarthy.
On Wednesday, Mr. Macron stated he had coordinated with Mr. Biden forward of his go to to China. He stated that France and the US shared the identical view of an “open Indo-Pacific area” and the identical views on Taiwan, together with a dedication to the “One China” coverage — a view that mainland China and Taiwan make up a single nation — and to resolving tensions over the island peacefully.
“That’s what I stated one to at least one to the president; that’s what I’ve stated in every single place,” Mr. Macron added, referring to Xi Jinping, China’s high chief. “We haven’t modified.”
However Mr. Macron stated that “simply since you are allied and do issues collectively doesn’t imply that you just don’t have the suitable to suppose for your self and are going to comply with those that have the toughest positions in a rustic that you’re allied with.”
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