France’s Macron rejects ‘confrontation’ in Asia

GBNEWS24DESK//

French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday urged an end to “confrontation” as he relaunched his strategy for the Asia-Pacific region after a bitter row over a cancelled submarine contract with Australia.

In a speech on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, Macron cast France as a balancing power in a region long dominated by the superpower tussle between China and the United States.

The APEC summit comes days after a high-stakes meeting between US President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping took some heat out of their escalating rivalry.

Tensions between Washington and Beijing have risen sharply in recent years over the future of self-governing Taiwan, human rights, trade and China’s increasing assertiveness.

“We don’t believe in hegemony, we don’t believe in confrontation, we believe in stability,” Macron said.

Regional powers including Paris — which has overseas territories in the Indian and Pacific oceans, including Reunion, New Caledonia and French Polynesia — should play a role, he said.

“We are in the jungle and we have two big elephants, trying to become more and more nervous,” Macron said in his speech, which he gave in English.

“If they become very nervous and start war it will be a big problem for the rest of the jungle. You need cooperation of a lot of other animals: tigers, monkeys, and so on.”

Addressing the summit, Vice President Kamala Harris said that the United States is committed to the region for the long haul, rejecting doubts about its engagement as China expands its clout.

“The United States is here to stay,” Harris said. “Our message is clear: The United States has an enduring economic commitment to the Indo-Pacific, one that is measured not in years, but in decades and generations,” she said, using the preferred US term for the Asia-Pacific region.

President Joe Biden’s administration has focused on rallying behind allies and Harris will head from Thailand to the Philippines, where she will visit an island near waters increasingly contested by Beijing.