Europe must reduce its dependency on the United States and avoid getting dragged into a confrontation between Beijing and the U.S. over Taiwan, French President Emmanuel Macron said in an interview on his plane journey back from a three-day state visit to China last week.
According to the report by Politico journalists, Macron emphasised his pet theory of “strategic autonomy” for Europe, presumably led by France, to become a “third superpower.”
Macron also argued that Europe had increased its dependency on the U.S. for weapons and energy and must now focus on boosting European defense industries.
Macron has a short memory.
Imagine if the U.S. had said last century that it should avoid getting dragged into a confrontation in Europe. Tens of thousands of Americans, Canadians, and Australians are buried in France, having died in its defence against tyranny in two world wars.
And where would Europe be without NATO, a defence agreement that allows European nations to rely on the U.S. to defend them? Should the U.S. tell Macron and other European leaders that it will no longer involve itself in a conflict with Russia?
Macron’s inflated view of Europe as some third force in a new global order is naive, especially when he seems more interested in trade than international stability.
Macron told the Spanish newspaper El Pais in January that Europe had to become sovereign in “economic, technological, and military terms, in other words, a Europe that is truly a power.”
In reality, modern Europe has limited capacity to play a major geopolitical role because of its historic military weaknesses.
The latest reminder is a leaked memo disclosing that German land forces cannot fulfill its NATO commitments. A military division that Germany promised to NATO isn’t fully ready for battle, according to a report in Bild last week.
By equating authoritarian China with democratic America, the French president undermined “Liberté, Égalité, and Fraternité”—the very values that supposedly underpin the French democratic ideal.
Coming at a time when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is equating Taiwan to a tumour that requires removal, Macron’s remarks can only embolden Xi Jinping and undermine Western efforts to create a stable Indo-Pacific which includes French territories.
Was the French president suffering from “relevance deprivation” on the world stage? Was he seeking a distraction from the riots at home? Was it an expression of Gallic hubris? Or was he selling out democracy for trade?
Whatever the reason(s), it was an abdication of his duty to defend democracy wherever it exists.
Macron has a track record of borderline attention-seeking comments. In 2019 he told The Economist that NATO was experiencing “brain death.” Following the AUKUS announcement, he withdrew France’s ambassadors to the U.S. and Australia in a fit of diplomatic pique.
On one hand, he proclaims that France has a role to play in the security of the Indo-Pacific; but on the other, he is prepared to abandon a democratic country to a brutal authoritarian regime that threatens the peace of the region.
Whatever his reasons, his comments played into the hands of Xi Jinping. His remarks were described as a “brilliant decision” in Chinese state media.
Thankfully, most leaders are not listening to Macron. Nations exposed to Xi’s threatening behaviour have very different responses.
The Philippines have undertaken major military drills with the U.S., while Japan and Korea have put old enmities aside for joint exercises. The Philippines has also announced four new U.S. Navy bases in the nation.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, on her first visit to China, is expected to stress Europe’s common position, downplaying Macron’s eccentric remarks.
But having made his unhelpful comments, Macron doubled down, repeating them in Europe.
As the French would say, “Quelle horreur, Monsieur le Président.”
