MELBOURNE—Australia has made a “huge” diplomatic error, the French ambassador said on Saturday having been recalled to Paris after Canberra ditched a multi-billion dollar order for French submarines in favor of an alternative deal with the United States and Britain.
“I think this has been a huge mistake, a very, very bad handling of the partnership—because it wasn’t a contract, it was a partnership that was supposed to be based on trust, mutual understanding, and sincerity,” Ambassador Jean-Pierre Thebault told journalists in Canberra.
