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Since the announcements made by Australia and the United States on September 15 were very serious, the decision was made
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Friday night that France is immediately recalling its ambassadors to the United States and Australia to strongly oppose a submarine deal.
Le Drian said in a statement that, at the request of President Emmanuel Macron, the decision was “reasonable because of the exceptional seriousness announced by Australia and the United States.”
He said that it is “unacceptable behavior” for Australia to cancel the large contract to purchase French conventional submarines and switch to nuclear-powered submarines manufactured with American technology.
Earlier on Friday, senior French diplomats talked about the “crisis” in relations with the United States. Just before the public announcement, Paris learned that Australia was canceling large purchases of French conventional submarines in favor of nuclear submarines built with American technology.
The diplomat, who spoke anonymously in accordance with government practice, said 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.
Since President Joe Biden announced the formation of a strategic Indo-Pacific alliance with Australia and the United Kingdom, French President Emmanuel Macron has not commented on this issue, which has caused France to lose nearly $100 billion in the construction of diesel-electric power plants. Submarine deal.
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.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian expressed his “complete misunderstanding” of 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.”
Under Trump’s “America First” principle, he also compared Biden’s actions with those of his predecessor Donald Trump.
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 say 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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