France’s insistence on freedom fires up US anger
France’s President Emmanuel Macron has drawn the ire of the US after he remarked that France should pursue an independent foreign policy on China and not follow Washington’s “agenda” in the Asia-Pacific region.
He said France does not wish to be drawn into any crisis over Taiwan. The rebuke from the Wall Street Journal was swift. The newspaper said in an editorial: “Mr Macron wants the US to ride to Europe’s rescue against Russian aggression, but apparently take a vow of neutrality against Chinese aggression in the Pacific. Thanks a lot, mate.”
Supporters of Macron say the French president has started an important debate within Europe and the Western bloc: that the EU should indeed see itself as a third bloc pursuing an independent foreign policy, that, as Macron argues, the EU should become the world’s “third superpower” alongside the US and China.
France-US relations have a history of ups and downs. Twenty years ago, France openly opposed the US invasion of Iraq and threatened to use its UN Security Council veto to block the UN resolution authorising the invasion. AntiFrench sentiment in the US was so high there was a period where American restaurants changed “French fries” to “freedom fries” on their menus.
Relations improved only as American public opinion turned against the invasion. More recently, in September 2021, Macron recalled French ambassadors to the US and Australia when news broke that Australia was to tear up the existing contract to buy French conventional submarines in favour of US nuclear-powered submarines.
US President Joe Biden had to work hard to patch up the relationship with France, admitting that the US was “clumsy” in its handling of the secret submarine deal between the US, Britain and Australia.
It’s interesting to see the French break ranks and approach China from a different perspective.
This is pouring cold water on the discourse that the US is the beacon of goodness and light, leading a crusade against the dark and evil China and Russia.
Former French ambassador to the UN Gérard Araud tweeted earlier this week: “I don’t want my country to be a member of a US-led Global North.
“I want it to be a reliable ally — as it has always been — but an independent-minded one, able to pursue its own policy.”
As was the case 20 years ago when France was not convinced that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, and was willing to stand up and say the UN should not authorise a US-led force to invade Iraq. I think the French have a point today.
They have the right to assess where their own national interests lie, and they have the right to point out faults with US policy if they so choose. The more the US and China “circle the wagons” and see the other as the enemy, the worse it will be for everyone, and the higher the likelihood of crisis and war.
In a recent Foreign Affairs piece co-authored by Wang Jisi of Peking University’s Institute of International & Strategic Studies and Scott Kennedy of the Centre for Strategic & International Studies in Washington, the two heavyweight academics point out that Beijing and Washington are entirely convinced of their own narratives — that the other side is entirely to blame for the deterioration of the US-China bilateral relationship.
The academics don’t think the relationship will improve any time soon.
But, talking and listening is the only way for the two countries to find ways to peacefully manage their differences.
From an SA vantage point, we need to know that we are an African country and a member of Brics, where the stated agenda is to advocate for developing countries’ interests.
As US domestic enthusiasm for the Ukraine war wanes, we can probably expect reduced pressure from the West to toe the line against China and Russia as the war drags on.