French President Emmanuel Macron has concluded his three-day state visit to China where he met with Xi Jinping. On his way back home, he held a press conference where he seemed to be singing a rather different tune than he typically does. He must have been pretty impressed with whatever the head of the Chinese Communist Party had to say because he was speaking more forcefully about how European nations should not be “just America’s followers.” He noted the danger Europe faces of being “dragged into” a confrontation with China over Taiwan and wants to see Europe assert more independence, becoming a “third superpower.” And China was loving every minute of it. (Politico)

Europe must reduce its dependency on the United States and avoid getting dragged into a confrontation between China and the U.S. over Taiwan, French President Emmanuel Macron said in an interview on his plane back from a three-day state visit to China.

Speaking with POLITICO and two French journalists after spending around six hours with Chinese President Xi Jinping during his trip, Macron emphasized his pet theory of “strategic autonomy” for Europe, presumably led by France, to become a “third superpower.”

Scanning through the list of talking points Macron was putting out, it sounds as if he’s essentially just parroting everything the CCP says on a regular basis. He talked about the need to reduce Europe’s reliance on the United States both militarily and economically. He even went so far as to say that Europe needs to “reduce its dependence on the extraterritoriality of the U.S. dollar.”

Yes, that was the president of a country that is supposedly among our closest allies encouraging the further weakening of the dollar as the gold standard for international transactions. That’s already begun happening in other countries and the long-term implications for America could be dire.

The AP analysis of why Macron is talking this way seems to be accurate. He sees the European Union emerging as a new global superpower, “presumably led by France.” And that would place him on the same level as the leaders of America, China, and Russia. It’s a rare day when I find myself agreeing with Emmanuel Macron, but I’d love to see Europe step up and start paying for more of its own defense interests and managing its own affairs. The White House has been pushing Europe to do just that over the course of the past few administrations, particularly under Donald Trump.

But that only highlights the flaws in Macron’s vision. Despite being urged by the United States to do so, most of Europe has been completely unable to beef up its military forces to be less reliant on American force and cash. The European Union lacks the money, the manpower, and the military hardware to stand up to Russia, to say nothing of China. Xi Jinping knows this and he would like nothing better than to see a weakened Europe split off from its alliance with America, likely leading China to cement its place as a regional hegemon, if not a global one.

Macron should be careful what he wishes for. Europe would find China to be a far less friendly and potentially dangerous “ally” as compared to the United States. And France is still not a superpower in any sense of the word.