After getting royal treatment in China on his state visit, 45-year-old French President Emmanuel Macron said that European Union [EU] must not be “followers,” when it comes to China policy. President Joe Biden, 80, has done everything possible since taking office Jan. 20, 2021 to alienate China and Russia, the two nuclear-armed superpowers. Macron visited China to shore up any misunderstands that China has with France and the EU over Biden’s U.S. policy on Taiwan. Macron let 69-year-old Chinese President Xi Jinping know that France and the EU would not follow Biden’s policy of threatening to go to war against Communist China. Biden stated Sept. 23, 2022 that the U.S. would supply U.S. troops to defend Taiwan in the event of an attempted Chinese takeover. White House officials fear that the EU would assert itself independently of Biden’s Russia and China policy.
Macron has been trying to keep open diplomatic doors with 70-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin, trying to end the Ukraine War. With Biden and Ukraine’s 45-year-old Ukrainian Volodymyr Zelensky refusing to compromise on realistic peace proposals, Macron wonders how far would Biden take the Ukraine War to potentially engulf the European Continent in WW III or nuclear war. Biden and Zelensky have stated their objectives of degrading the Russian military to the point it can no longer wage war. Macron has bent over backwards trying to bring the conflict to the peace table, something Biden and Zelensky refuse to do. Biden hoped that Macron’s visit to China would persuade Xi to publicly denounce Putin, stating that Beijing opposes Russia’s Ukraine War. Macron realized that whether it’s China or Russia, Biden has his own agenda.
Macron expressed his view that the EU needs to speak as a bloc with its own voice, not follow the U.S., whatever Biden’s agenda in China and Russia. “The question we need to answer, as Europeans, is the following, is it in our interest to accelerate [a crisis] on Taiwan? No,” Macron said. “The worst thing would be to think that we Europeans must become followers on this topic and take our cue from the U.S. agenda and a Chinese overreaction,” Macron said, clearly distinguishing the EU bloc from Biden’s foreign policy. When it comes to the Ukraine War, no EU country wanted the U.S. to enter into a deadly proxy war against the Kremlin to resolve Ukraine’s conflict with Moscow. Biden has counted on the EU’s backing for his proxy war against the Russian Federation. While the EU backs Ukraine’s sovereignty, they want no part of Biden’s proxy war against the Kremlin.
Biden has surreptitiously joined Ukraine’s war against the Kremlin, not something the EU was prepared to do in supporting Ukraine’s right to sovereignty. Biden went overboard funding Zelensky’s battle with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Zelensky set conditions for any peace talks, requiring Putin to be charged in the Hague’s International Criminal Court ICC] with war crimes. Biden doesn’t admit that the U.S. doesn’t subscribe to the ICC, despite supporting war crimes against Putin. Zelensky has pushed Biden for unlimited cash-and-arms to battle the Russian Federation, prompting Putin to declare that he’d consider using nuclear weapons if the U.S. and NATO threaten the Russian Federation. Biden and Zelensky have made their war objective getting Putin out of power, something rejected by Macron and the EU. When it comes to China, the EU wants no part of war with Beijing.
Biden hoped to avoid cracks in the EU alliance against Putin and the Russian Federation. Not one EU country—other than the Baltic States—believes that Putin wants to take over former Soviet satellites in Europe. Biden and Zelensky state repeatedly that the war is about preventing Putin from taking over Europe. No one in the EU believes that Putin’s objective in his “special military operation” is to take over Europe. Only yesterday, Zelensky said the Ukraine War is an important part of preserving democracy in Europe, something left of NATO. Zelensky has been trying to gain fast-track approval for NATO membership since the Feb. 24, 2022 war with Russia. NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has told Ukraine that no NATO membership can happen quickly for Kiev. Stoltenberg doesn’t want NATO members to fight Ukraine’s battle with the Russian Federation.
Macron set the record straight on China and Ukraine that the EU agenda is different than the United States. Biden won’t like any crack in his EU coalition in battling the Russian Federation. When it comes to China, Macron could not be more clear that the EU will not follow the U.S. into any conflict over Taiwan. “We Europeans must wake up. Our priority is not others’ agendas in all regions of the world,” Macron said, in a direct reference to the White House. White House officials will try to spin Macron’s statements to show unanimity when the EU has its own independent agenda. Macron said the EU doesn’t want to get caught in a “trap” that would lead to “getting caught up in crises that are not our own,” referring to Biden’s saber rattling with China over Taiwan. Beyond China, Macron wants Biden to know that he’s taken the Ukraine War with the Kremlin too far.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging the Bullet and Operation Charisma.
