Slapping U.S. allies and foes alike, 78-year-old Joe Biden proved he’s a hazard to U.S. foreign policy and national security, alienating France on a $40 billion submarine deal with Australia. Whatever the excuse, Biden went behind France’s back to undermine a $40 billion contract for diesel-and-electric submarines with Australia. Biden secretly worked out the deal for eight nuclear-powered submarines with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. With China running amok in the South Pacific and Pacific Rim, Morrison felt he couldn’t properly patrol international waters keeping China at bay with France’s outdated submarine technology. U.S. policy before now only shared nuclear-powered submarine technology with Great Britain. Selling Australia eight nuclear-powered submarines shows the U.S. has switched gears in using Australia as a strategic partner to check China’s growing aggression.
Recalling its ambassadors from the U.S. and Australia, 43-year-old French President Emmanuel Macron and 74-year-old Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian broke new ground, expressing France’s outrage over the U.S.-Australian nuclear submarine deal. U.S. Britain and Australia entered into a trilateral security deal, allowing the U.S. to share its nuclear technology with Australia. “We don’t need to hold consultations with our [Britain] ambassador to know what to make of it to draw any conclusions,” said an unnamed French source. France was furious that Biden, 58-year-old Secretary of State Antony Blinken and 68-year-old Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin entered into a deal with Australia without consulting with France. France felt blindsided when Morrison essentially told France that Australia needed nuclear technology to deal with emerging Chinese threats.
France wants the U.S. to cancel the deal and force Australian to resume its $40 billion contract with France. “The abandonment of the submarine project . .. and the announcement of a new partnership with the United States aiming at launching new studies for future possible nuclear propulsion cooperation is unacceptable behavior between allies,” Le Drian said in a statement. France is in no position to dictate the kind of submarines Australia needs to deal with its current security concerns in the South Pacific or anywhere else. Morrison said the French officials were told in advance that Australia might scrap the 2016 diesel-and-electric French submarine deal because their security needs had changed. Or, to put it another way, now that Australia has joined a security triangle with the U.S. and U.K., both countries want Australia to be comparably equipped with nuclear technology.
France’s astonishment over Australia pulling out of the submarine deal doesn’t make sense, since Morrison told Macron in June that the deal might be scrapped. “I made it very clear, we had a lengthy dinner there in Paris, about our very significant concerns about the capabilities or conventional submarines to deal with the new strategic environment we’re faced with,” Morrison told Sea Radio. “I made it very clear that this was a matter that Australia would need to make a decision on in our national interest,” Morrison said. But what really happened is that Australia agreed to a mutual defense pact with the United States and Great Britain, to provide extra patrols in the South Pacific requiring a nuclear powered submarine fleet. France has overreacted because its lacks the capacity to deliver nuclear-powered submarines. Recalling U.S. and Australian ambassadors over a contract is outrageous.
France will probably demand that the U.S. make the $40 billion in contracts whole, regardless of Australia’s decision to pull out. Recalling ambassadors is something commonly done by Russia and China, or rogue states like North Korea and Iran, not long-time allies dating back to the U.S. Revolutionary War. Macron has no one to blame but himself and showed that he’s not fit to lead France. Whatever element of the 2016 submarine deal went south, that’s no reason to accuse the U.S. and Australia over undermining French-Australian foreign relations. “ I absolutely understand the disappointment,” said Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne. No one expected Marcon to overreact to clearly a better security deal with Australia, patrolling international waters at long distance dealing with a hostile China threatening recently to attack Taiwan.
Marcon should resign in disgrace for recalling the French, U.S. and Australian ambassadors all over a $40 billion submarine contract. U.S. relations with France go back to the U.S. Revolution, with the U.S. liberating France from Nazi Germany. Macron’s overreaction demonstrates for all to see that he’s not fit for duty. Whatever disagreement over the nuclear submarine deal, Macron should voice his complaints quietly to the appropriate channels in the U.S. and Australia. Recalling the French, U.S. and Australian ambassadors does nothing to advance bilateral relations. Calling France’s move “historic,” Pierre Morcos, visiting fellow at Washington’s Center of r Strategic and International Studies, was shocked like everyone else. Biden and Blinken will have to do more than talk to satisfy Macron who obviously wants the U.S. and Australia to reimburse France for breaking the contract.
