French President Emmanuel Macron and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, April 6.
picture:
Xie Huanqi/Zuma Press
Emmanuel Macron himself imagines the Charles de Gaulle of the 21st century, which includes distancing Europe from the United States, but the French president chose a harrowing moment this weekend for de Gaulle’s passion after his meeting with Chinese Communist Party chief Xi Jinping.
“The paradox would be, if overcome with panic, we think we are mere minions of America,” said Mr. Macron, in an interview with a reporter from Politico and two French journalists. The question that Europeans need to answer. . . Is it in our interest to hurry? [a crisis] in Taiwan? No, the worst thing is to think that we Europeans should become followers on this subject and take our cue from the American agenda and Chinese overreaction.”
Nobody wants a crisis over Taiwan, let alone hasten it, but preventing it requires a credible deterrent. Macron seemed to rule out European help in this when he told reporters that “the Europeans can’t solve the crisis in Ukraine. How can we credibly say in Taiwan, ‘Watch out, if you do something wrong we’ll be there’?” If you really want to raise tensions this is the way to do it. with that.”
If Mr. Macron wants to reduce American public support for a war against Russia, he couldn’t say it better. Without American weapons and intelligence, Russia would have long ago rolled over Ukraine and perhaps one or more NATO border countries. Macron says he wants to make Europe less dependent on American arms and energy, which is a good thing. But then what about spending the money and making the policy changes to do so?
Mr. Macron wants the United States to save Europe from Russian aggression, but it is clear that it pledges neutrality against Chinese aggression in the Pacific. Thank you very much my friend. His unhelpful comments will undermine US and Japanese deterrence against China in the Western Pacific while emboldening US politicians who want to reduce US commitments in Europe to better resist China.
If President Biden is up, he should call Mr. Macron and ask him if he is trying to get Donald Trump re-elected.
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Featured in April 10, 2023, print edition.
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