France remembers its ambassadors in the US and Australia in the backlash of the submarine agreement

France recalled its ambassadors to the United States and Australia on Friday in a fierce dispute over the scrapping of a submarine contract, an unprecedented step that revealed the extent of French anger against its allies.

President Emmanuel Macron made the exceptional decision due to the “seriousness of the September 15 announcements by Australia and the United States,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in a statement.

The rare diplomatic reaction against France’s allies came two days after Australia announced it was scrapping a major purchase of French conventional submarines in favor of American nuclear-powered submarines.

The announcement represented “unacceptable behavior among allies and partners,” the statement said.

Australia in 2016 had chosen the French Naval Group, partly owned by the state, to build 12 conventionally-powered submarines, based on France’s Barracuda nuclear-powered submarines under development.

The contract was worth around A $ 50 billion (€ 31 billion, $ 36.5 billion) when it was announced in 2016.

But on Wednesday, US President Joe Biden, along with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, announced a new US security alliance between their countries that would develop an Australian fleet of nuclear-powered submarines.

The Australia-UK-US alliance, dubbed AUKUS, has been strongly condemned by France, calling it “a stab in the back”.

The United States describes France as a ‘vital ally’

The United States reiterated on Friday that France was a “vital ally.”

“France is a vital partner and our oldest ally, and we place the highest value on our relationship,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement, adding that Washington hoped to continue the discussion on the issue at higher level in the coming days, including during the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York next week.

Meanwhile, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby acknowledged that previous phone conversations between US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his French counterpart Florence Parly showed “that there is still a lot of work to be done in terms of our defense relationship with France “.

Kethevane Gorjestani of France 24 reports on the US response to France’s decision to withdraw its ambassador

Australia said it regrets France’s decision to withdraw its ambassador to Canberra, but values ​​its relationship with France and will continue to engage with Paris on many other issues.

“We take note with regret of France’s decision to withdraw its ambassador to Australia,” a Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a statement. “Australia values ​​its relationship with France … We look forward to re-engaging with France on our many issues of shared interest, based on shared values.”

China calls the alliance ‘extremely irresponsible’

Beijing described the new alliance as an “extremely irresponsible” threat to regional stability, questioning Australia’s commitment to nuclear non-proliferation and warning Western allies that they risk “shooting themselves in the foot.”

China has its own “very substantive nuclear submarine construction program,” Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison argued in an interview with radio station 2GB on Friday.

China claims nearly the entire resource-rich South China Sea, through which trillions of dollars in maritime trade pass annually, rejecting competing claims from Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. including anti-ship missiles and surface-to-air missiles there, and it ignored a 2016 international court decision that declared its historic claim to most of the waters unfounded.

‘Directly affects vision’

The French ambassador reminds the United States and Australia, key allies of France, are unprecedented. Withdrawing envoys is a diplomatic step of last resort taken when relations between warring countries sink into crisis, but it is highly unusual among allies.

“I am being called to Paris for consultations,” the French ambassador to the United States, Philippe Etienne, wrote on Twitter. “This follows announcements that directly affect our vision of our alliances, our partnerships and the importance of the Indo-Pacific for Europe.”

Paris sees itself as one of the main powers in the Indo-Pacific due to overseas territories such as New Caledonia and French Polynesia, which give it a strategic and military foothold unmatched by any other European country.

For now, the dispute has at least put on hold hopes for a post-Trump revival in Paris-Washington relations under Biden and his secretary of state, Antony Blinken, a fluent French speaker who was educated in Paris.

French European Affairs Minister Clement Beaune also said on Friday that Paris could not trust Canberra in ongoing trade talks with the European Union following the decision.

French Europe Minister Clément Beaune calls the AUKUS submarine deal a “ breach of trust ”

Meanwhile, France canceled a gala at its ambassador’s home in Washington scheduled for Friday.

The event was supposed to celebrate the anniversary of a decisive naval battle in the American Revolution, in which France played a key role.

AUKUS overshadows Europe’s Indo-Pacific plan

France had for several years pursued a European strategy to boost economic, political and defense ties in the region that stretched from India and China to Japan and New Zealand.

The EU unveiled its plan for the Indo-Pacific on Thursday. But the AUKUS headlines overshadowed the EU’s own Indo-Pacific strategy aimed at “exploring ways to ensure enhanced naval deployments by EU member states to help protect maritime lines of communication and freedom of navigation.” , according to a statement.

A French diplomat told AFP on Friday that Macron received a letter from Australian Prime Minister Morrison on Wednesday morning announcing the decision to cancel the submarine deal.

Later, French officials decided to contact the Biden administration “to ask what was going on,” the source said. He added that discussions with Washington took place just two to three hours before Biden’s public announcement.

Paris had raised the issue of Indo-Pacific strategy during US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s June 25 visit to Paris, expressing the importance of its submarine program with Australia, the diplomat said.

“We said it was a very important and critical component for us in our Indo-Pacific strategy,” he said. Blinken met with Macron during the visit.

The French diplomat said Australia never gave France any indication prior to its intention to scrap the submarine deal, including during a meeting between Macron and Morrison in Paris on June 15.

( Jowharwith AFP and AP)