French President Emmanuel Macron said in Bangkok on Thursday that the offer of French cooperation on submarines with Australia was still “on the table.” “It’s known, it’s on the table,” he said, recalling that it was about conventionally powered submarines, the day after a meeting with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali.
The conclusion of the AUKUS alliance between Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom had led Canberra to cancel a mega-contract in 2021 for the acquisition of twelve French conventional submarines, which would have been built in Australia.
Late deliveries of nuclear-powered submarines
Australia decided to buy American or British nuclear-powered submarines instead, a major change for a country with weak nuclear capabilities. But delivery of these subs is likely to take time as the Australians must quickly revamp their capabilities in the face of China’s growing influence in the region.
“We will see how they adapt to the difficulties,” said Emmanuel Macron, who noted that “for the moment they have not decided to change their strategy on the issue,” although since May there has been a new prime minister, Anthony Albanese from Labour. , who has promised Emmanuel Macron to repair the deteriorated bilateral relations between the two countries.
Relaunch bilateral relations and France’s “Indo-Pacific” strategy
The Head of State recalled that France does not deliver nuclear-powered submarines abroad and that, therefore, the offer remained conventional. “We’ve never been on a strategy like this,” he said. The French solution offers Australia an alternative that guarantees its “freedom and sovereignty”, he pointed out, recalling that the submarines would have been built there.
The crisis with Australia has severely undermined the “Indo-Pacific” strategy of France, which has many territories and maritime spaces in the region and intends to gain a foothold there. President Macron will try to relaunch these strategic ambitions at the Apec summit in Bangkok, where he is the first European head of state to be invited.
“In this highly contested region, which is the scene of a confrontation between the two main world powers (…) our strategy is: defending freedom and sovereignty, balancing the preservation of maritime liberties, balanced cultural exchanges, economic exchanges, development of technologies without a hegemonic model prevailing”, stressed Emmanuel Macron.
Source: BFM TV
