France continued its beef with the U.S. and Australia to the U.N. General Assembly, with 74-year-old French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian giving 58-year-old Secretary of State Antony Blinken the could shoulder. Le Drian told the U.N. General Assembly that there were strange similarities between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, in another slap, all because Australia decided to cancel a $48 billion diesel-powered submarine deal. “I, myself, do not intend to meet the secretary of state, Blinken,” Le Drian told the press. “Of course, I might see him here or there in a corridor, but I will not be the first point of entry,” holding a grudge over 53-year-old Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s decision last week to scuttle a 2016 $48 billion submarine deal. Morrison said he told French President Emmanuel Macron in June the deal was in jeopardy.
France hasn’t got over its temper tantrum over the U.S. agreeing to supply Australia with long-range nuclear-powered submarines, needed to patrol the South Pacific all the way to the South China Sea, where China has illegally built a series on military installations on shallow reefs in Spratly Islands archipelago. “There is a crisis of trust beyond the fact that the contract is being broken—as if Europe itself doesn’t have an interest to defend in the particular region,” Le Drian said. France was slapped in the face when Morrison decided to terminate the submarine contract. France prides itself on being a world-class ship builder but can’t produce nuclear-powered submarines due to European Union restrictions. Macron’s government was embarrassed by Australia prompting 53-year-old opposition leader, far-right Marine Le Pen to slam Macron’s government as incompetent.
Le Drian used his time at the U.N. to brow beat the U.S. and Australia, playing victim, when, in fact, Macron was given by Morrison plenty of advance notice but chose to ignore the issue until it surfaced. Le Drian said France feels like “it was stabbed in the back” but only Macron failed to inform French government officials that Australia planned to back out of the deal. “What is at stake is not just trust with the transatlantic relationship, and the reason why I am mentioning it in the context of UNGA, it is because it’s a matter of capability of defending multilateralism—it requires use to be able to work together,” Le Drian said, saying a lot of nonsense over Australia’s decision to buy U.S.-made nuclear submarines. Le Drian talks as if the EU would be fully behind any effort by Australia to deal with a renegade China through multilateralism, not making special deals with the U.S.
Le Drian tries to sell other EU members on the idea that the U.S. acted unilaterally by agreeing, without French approval, to scuttle a $48 billion submarine deal. So far, no other EU country has condemned Australia’s right to buy submarines from the best source available. President Joe Biden hasn’t helped France understand that despite the U.S. preference for mulitlaterialism, it still must conduct its national security in the best interest of the United States and its allies. It’s not enough to hear Le Drian lecture the U.S. about how multilateralism with the EU solves the China conundrum, where President Xi Jinping has thumbed his nose at international law, violating the 2016 ruling at International Court of Justice at the Hague, for China to cease-and-desist violating international rules of the sea to build out its military installations in international water, violating sovereignty of Pacific Rim nations.
France, or the EU for that matter, does not have the military budget of the United States or capability to confronting China or Russia when it comes to criminal activities on the high seas or elsewhere. As an EU country, France spends a tiny fraction of the U.S. $715 billion military budget, investing most of the EU’s Gross Domestic Product in social programs, not defense. Biden campaigned in 2020 against Trump’s “America First” foreign policy, saying the “U.S. is back,” meaning back to multilateralism. But any U.S. approach to mulitlaterialism or coordination with the EU is only symbolic in nature because the U.S. provides for its own defense and is not part of Brussels. Biden confuses at more consultative approach to foreign policy as mulitlaterialism when, in fact, the U.S. calls its own shots when it comes to national security. Le Drian is clearly embarrassed that the U.S. exposed France’s weakness.
Blinken tried to smooth out Frances ruffled feathers but found himself digging into a deeper hole. “We understand the French position. We don’t share their view in terms of how this all developed, but we understand their position,” said an unnamed State Department official. “And we look forward to the phone call between President Biden and President Macron once it’s time is fixed on the books. We think that will be an important moment and opportunity for the two leader to speak directly with one another,” hoping the call mends fences. But clearly Macron has exploited the situation for political purposes, selling the French Public on how Australia and the big, bad United States stole their submarine contract. Biden needs to explain to Marcon that he U.S. believes in multilateralism but doest cede its national security to the EU and makes deals that benefits U.S. national security.
