Source: Global Times
When the current US President Joe Biden sent a foreign policy signal that "the United States is back" during last year's election, French President Emmanuel Macron said several years ago that "Gaulliism is back." From the United States, britain and Australia on the 15th to announce the establishment of a tripartite security alliance (AUKUS), to the United States to provide nuclear submarines to Australia caused France to lose the large order of conventional submarines, from the angry French president to request the recall of the ambassadors to the United States and Australia, to the French, American, French and British heads of state to call for several days to cool down the situation, the whole of France looks very angry and helpless - not only the Australians tore up a large defense contract, but more importantly, the Americans intervened in some kind of damage to the French Indo-Pacific strategy. As France gradually enters the next presidential election campaign, topics such as how France-US relations are and what position France and the European Union are in the global strategy of the United States have naturally become the focus of public opinion.
French President Macron Infographic
The "incompatibility" between the United States and France behind the nuclear submarine storm
The U.S. and French heads of state spoke by phone for about half an hour, trying to tell the outside world that the diplomatic rift between them had been repaired. However, according to the observation of the Global Times reporter in France, French public opinion has not given up, from the beginning of the concentrated attack on the United States, Britain and Australia perfidy, to now in-depth discussion of the relationship between France and the United States global strategy. Some French commentators have wondered how France can be so hindsighted and "naïve and simple", and do not know that "American diplomacy is so rude". Others accuse the French diplomatic and intelligence agencies of making major mistakes. Marina Le Pen, the presidential candidate of the far-right national coalition, has offered to hold the government accountable. Lawmakers from the left-wing opposition "France Don't Yield" mocked diplomacy not just as a "shoulder-to-shoulder" (referring to Macron's intimate move with Biden at the G7 summit in June), but about profit.
Lawrence Naarden, an international affairs expert at the French Institute of International Relations, said there was widespread french dissatisfaction with AUKUS: "France is disappointed because it didn't expect the Biden administration to do that. It was thought that the Biden administration would be more multilateral and transatlantic, even pro-French. To the embarrassment of the French, U.S. Secretary of State Blinken grew up in Paris, finished high school, spoke fluent French, and planned an official visit to Paris in early October. Despite Biden's efforts to appease Macron's mood, French Foreign Minister Le Dreyon and Blinken both said "ending the crisis between the two countries takes time and action."
French President Emmanuel Macron's initial "anger" is not without reason, compared to the French military industry lost tens of billions of dollars in military orders, he is more distressed that the "French Indo-Pacific Strategy" he has promoted since 2018 is in an embarrassing situation, as the German "World Youth" published an opinion article said, "From now on, the French will only play the second violin." Ironically, in the French Indo-Pacific Strategy, released at the end of July this year, France and Australia were ambitiously defined as France's "main partners" in the Indo-Pacific region, with specific references to "the strengthening of the partnership by the French warship manufacturer being selected in 2016 as the builder of Australia's future ocean-going submarines". France has signed an FRANCO-New Zealand agreement in the Pacific, which includes the deployment of military personnel to participate in joint operations to combat illegal fishing, disaster relief and environmental protection. Another pain point for Macron is the Tripartite Dialogue Mechanism between France, Australia and India, which he has pushed for nearly two years, and since the first meeting between foreign ministers and officials of the three countries in September 2020, the leaders of the three countries announced their efforts to cooperate at the G7 summit in London this year.
France has more territory, army and influence in the Asia-Pacific region than Britain. The French would have liked to be given more respect and advice on Pacific matters, but Vermont, the former French ambassador to the United States, said in an interview with the Military website that the emergence of AUKUS "gave people an unpleasant taste of being despised and marginalized." French executives have repeatedly made it clear that France has an exclusive economic zone in the Asia-Pacific region, with 2 million inhabitants and 7,000 military personnel, so France will never give up its responsibilities in the region.
After the end of World War II, France and the United States did have many differences on some major international affairs: in 1966, at the height of the Vietnam War, General de Gaulle warned the United States in Phnom Penh that "Asia will not succumb to the will of the United States"; in 2003, then French President Chirac opposed the Iraq War and warned of major turmoil in the Middle East; within NATO, Chirac opposed the BOMBING of Belgrade by the United States during the Kosovo War in 1999; Macron and Trump had differences on climate change. There were even tidbits of "shaking hands and wrestling" when the two met; Macron's contacts with Russia, remarks about NATO's "brain death" and statements of "strategic autonomy" made Americans unhappy... These differences cannot be reduced to symbolic clashes between politicians, behind which is the "incompatibility" that exists between the two countries. The US "Diplomacy" magazine said that as the primary political independence, the pursuit of autonomy within NATO, and the determination to provide a nuclear deterrent were the goals that de Gaulle never gave up. The Capitol Hill also analyzed that Macron's claim to "strategic autonomy" in Europe today is the latest version of De Gaulleism in the 21st century.
Annoyed Australians began to turn over old accounts
A senior U.S. diplomat said it looked "clumsy" for the United States and Australia to provoke a submarine contract with France, which "means a new Anglo-Saxon brotherhood with the 'Brits' and 'Australians', not Gauls." An opinion piece on the U.S. "Military" News Network read: "Freedom and fraternity, yes. Equality, not so much. The article teases the delicate relationship between France and the English-speaking Anglo-Saxon countries – although France unreservedly assisted the United States in defeating the British in the War of Independence and maintained a "brotherly" ancient alliance, the signing of the US-Australia-Ukus agreement made France have to worry that it would only act as a "small partner" of the United States in the future.
Russia Today tv recently commented that if U.S.-French relations deteriorate again, "under such circumstances, Franco-German unity is not accidental." The distance between the Anglo-Saxon countries and the countries of the European continent will become farther and farther apart, and the idea of separating the European army from NATO has practical significance for the realization of a European army or a continental military alliance.
"Australia owes France nothing!" Seeing that France, the United States, France and Britain are easing contradictions, an Australian political reporter published an article in the "Japan Economic News" on the 25th, saying that France's accusations against Australia are all one-sided words, "When I think of the Australians who died to defend France in the two world wars, I am annoyed by the arrogance and ungratefulness of this country that has never reached out to Australia." During World War I, 295,000 Australian soldiers fought on the Western Front in France, of which 53,000 were killed and more than 150,000 wounded, and the French let the families of the victims build tombstones at their own expense and profit from them. During World War II, the Australians withstood the Japanese bombardment of the Australian port of Darwin and sent soldiers to the European battlefield, and more than 40,000 Australian soldiers left their lives on the European continent to help recover the territory of France and other European allies. In 1973, Australia filed a lawsuit with the International Court of Justice, demanding that France stop conducting nuclear tests in the South Pacific under the name of "sacrificing soldiers for France". As a result, France conducted uninterrupted nuclear tests in the South Pacific for the next 22 years.
France has spared no effort to rob Australia of business in the international market. After Britain joined the European Common Market in 1973, Australian butter, cheese and beef disappeared from the shelves of British supermarkets and replaced them with French products. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had to apologize for the scene from decades ago when he signed the Anglo-Australian Free Trade Agreement. "This has been a devastating blow to many farmers in Australia," and the fact is that some Australian farmers committed suicide because they felt desperate.
According to the Observation of the Global Times reporter in Australia, Australians have very complicated feelings for France, they will enjoy a meal and wine in a local French restaurant, go to the French Cultural Association to learn French, watch French movies, but many people think that the French are inefficient, can not do anything, and always laugh at "English speakers".
"Everything will be back to normal after the election"
"This should not be done between allies." From the EU side, from the beginning of the submarine crisis, it has clearly expressed its support for France. European public opinion also supported France and the European Union's emphasis on gradually establishing their own defense strategic measures. Attalee, a columnist for the French newspaper Echo, argues that these tactical shifts are necessary because Australia's tearing up of its contract with French submarines has shown that geopolitical relations are changing dramatically and that the United States has paid less attention to French support in the Indo-Pacific region. Attali suggested that EU countries must know how to respond to such changes, that is, to build a strong and independent EUROPEAN Union with strategic dominance in the economy and military.
No matter how french politicians, the media and the public use fierce language to attack the United States and Australia and other countries, these countries still have the same values, systems and common interests, and the alliance relationship is still difficult to shake, which is why the heads of state of France, the United States, France and Britain will quickly de-escalate the crisis through telephone communication. French "Le Monde" and other media analysis said that France, whether in Africa or in the Indo-Pacific region, is inseparable from defense cooperation with the United States. Admiral Vendieux, chief of staff of the French Navy, told the media on the 25th that China's strong rise at sea has worried everyone. Speaking about Franco-U.S. military cooperation, he said that "all kinds of operations have been good so far, and there is no problem." Some French media have also begun to "shift the subject", such as the French 24 Serial News TV website, which said, "Paris shouted that the allies betrayed it, but many experts believe that Canberra's decision is due to the rise of the Chinese threat, and because France's attitude towards Beijing is considered too vague by the United States, Britain and Australia." And Le Monde argues that "in the face of rising threats, Australia has chosen to let the United States rather than France protect itself".
Many Russian media have always expressed doubts about whether France and even Europe will really be hard-core with the United States, Britain and Australia. Russian "Izvestia" quoted Russian experts as saying that France's recall of ambassadors to Australia and the United States is the first time in the history of France's relations with the two countries, but no matter how big the scandal is, the relationship between France and its NATO allies will not break. The reason is that the competition between Western countries in the field of military technology and weapons and equipment exports has always been very fierce. The Australian foreign minister also expressed "understanding of France's disappointment" in a similar compromise, while hoping that the two countries would continue to cooperate. Koktesh, a scholar at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, believes that France will be miserable after being teased by the United States and Australia, but it is unlikely to lead to any serious consequences, because the enraged France will know its place in this team.
Russia's "Opinion" newspaper believes that the AUKUS alliance is like a slap in the face of the United States, making it clear to Europe that they are defenseless against the Washington scam. A serious storm awaits Europe, but it's only a storm in a teacup, because Europe's current leaders don't have a real chance to pursue a policy of independence. After a new round of elections for the european powers, everything will return to normal. Even Rubinski, an expert at the Institute of European Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences, believes that the United States is deepening cooperation with Anglo-Saxon countries, seeing the EU more as a competitor than an ally, but in the current context, "if Germany is given a choice between France and the United States, then Germany will choose Washington."
The US "Capitol Hill" also recently published an article saying that just as European allies suspect that de Gaulle's vision is that France covets European dominance, some European countries now do not fully support Macron's proposal. Affected by the epidemic, for some time to come, "strategic autonomy" is nothing more than a pious luxury of the French.
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