We recently discussed the offensive remarks made by French President Emmanuel Macron after his three-day visit with Xi Jinping in Beijing. He said that he didn’t want to see European nations act like “America’s followers” or see them be “dragged into” a conflict with China because of America’s actions. You can bet that Taiwan was paying attention, despite the fact that Macron didn’t deign to visit them. The Speaker of Taiwan’s parliament told reporters that he found the French president’s comments “puzzling.” He also questioned whether France was no longer interested in standing up for traditional Western values. (Reuters)
Comments by French President Emmanuel Macron on Taiwan are puzzling, a senior Taiwanese politician said, wondering whether France’s founding ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity are now out of fashion.
Macron, in comments in an interview on a trip to China that was meant to showcase European unity on China policy, cautioned against being drawn into a crisis over Taiwan driven by an “American rhythm and a Chinese overreaction”…
Taiwan parliament speaker You Si-kun, writing on Facebook late Tuesday above a screengrab of a report about Macron’s comments on Taiwan, questioned the French commitment to freedom.
You Si-kun asked whether ‘liberté, égalité, fraternité’ are now “out of fashion” in France. It’s a fair question to be sure.
Of course, the official Taiwanese position on this remains polite and they thanked Macron for his “concern.” They know which side their bread is buttered on and France is still supposedly one of America’s closest allies. But it seems like a fair bet that if China does move on Taiwan, Macron won’t be sending any French weapons or money to the island to help them defend themselves. That would probably be seen as an affront to his new buddy Xi.
Again, Macron doesn’t want France or other European countries “dragged into” war with China. But he obviously isn’t worried about dragging the United States into a war with Russia. And even in Ukraine, France’s contributions to the war effort have been a pittance compared to what America has paid and continues to pay. (Less than 5% of what we’ve coughed up at last count.)
Macron’s ambitions to be the leader of a “third pole” superpower may not be anywhere near as realistic as he seems to think. Blowback to his comments began almost immediately, with the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) issuing a statement saying that Macron is “severely out of step with the feeling across Europe’s legislatures and beyond.” It was signed by 15 MPs from legislatures across the EU, including one from his own party in France. In the United States, Republican Congressman Mike Gallagher was less polite.
Mike Gallagher, the Republican chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, called them “embarrassing” and “disgraceful,” while Norbert Röttgen, a German Christian Democrat MP and former head of the Bundestag’s foreign affairs committee, tweeted that Macron had “managed to turn his China trip into a PR coup for [Chinese President Xi Jinping] and a foreign policy disaster for Europe.”
I doubt that Macron will find a lot of support outside of the new Axis of Evil. China’s control of the global supply chain and it’s obvious political and military ambitions in the western Pacific and beyond represent a threat to the United States and all of our remaining faithful allies. Cozying up to China does no favors for France or the rest of the EU. Perhaps with a little more time to reflect on this, the French President will come to his senses and walk back this terrible decision.
