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Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian stated that the decisions made by Australia and the United States were “justified by unusually serious statements”.
France has recalled its ambassadors to the United States and Australia for consultations, which is a strong opposition to the submarine deal.
Australia on Wednesday cancelled a multi-billion-dollar French conventional submarine deal with the United States and Britain to establish an Indo-Pacific strategic alliance in which Australia will acquire US nuclear-powered submarines.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian called in a statement on Friday that the cancellation of the envoy was “unacceptable.” ) Request, decided to recall the special envoy, “because of Australia and the United States.
Earlier on Friday, a senior French diplomat spoke of the “crisis” in relations with the United States.
The diplomat told the Associated Press anonymously in accordance with government practice that, for Paris, “this is a strategic issue that involves the nature of the Indo-Pacific strategic relationship between Europe and the United States.”
He would not speculate about the impact of this situation on the relationship between France and the United States.
“This is a crisis,” he emphasized.
For several years, France has been promoting a European strategy to promote economic, political, and national defense relations from India and China to Japan and New Zealand. The European Union announced its Indo-Pacific regional plan this week.
The French diplomat said on Friday that Macron received a letter from Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Wednesday morning announcing the decision to cancel the submarine deal.
He said that French officials then decided to contact the US government to “ask what happened.” He added that the discussions with Washington took place two to three hours before Biden’s public announcement.
Le Drian expressed “completely incomprehensible” the move on Thursday and criticized Australia and the United States.
“This is really a stabbing in the back. We have established a relationship of trust with Australia, but this trust has been betrayed,” he said. “This is not done between allies.”
He also compared the actions of US President Joe Biden with those of his predecessor Donald Trump under Trump’s “America First” principle.
The diplomat said that Paris raised the issue of Indo-Pacific strategy during US Secretary of State Anthony Brinken’s visit to Paris on June 25 and expressed the importance of its submarine program with Australia.
“We have said that this is a very important and critical part of our Indo-Pacific strategy for us,” he said. Brinken met Macron during his visit.
The French diplomat stated that Australia has never mentioned to France its willingness to switch to nuclear-powered submarines, including during the meeting between Macron and Morrison in Paris on June 15.
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