French President Emmanuel Macron has never hidden his intention to throw himself into the center of the fiercest dispute over the formation of the new world order, aspiring to make his terms respected, if not imposed.
Because he is certainly not at all naive politically, nor incurably ethereal – so as to develop a nationalist ideology -, he projects the broader concept of a European “strategic autonomy” vis-à-vis the United States.
Britain’s exit from the EU -always in accordance with the permanent policy of not participating in permanent alliances- it elevated France to the major military and nuclear power of the Union. At the same time, the departure of Angela Merkel from the political scene of Germany strengthened Mr. Macron’s ambitions for assuming a hegemonic role in Europe.
A first differentiation – certainly of a mild form – from the policy of American President Joe Biden towards Russia was manifested in the first phase of the Russian-Ukrainian war, when President Macron decided to maintain an open line of telephone communication with President Putin. And this after a long time ago the other leaders of Europe – not at all -, first and foremost the economically unquestionably stronger Germany, conformed to Washington’s instructions.
Being the good tactician that he is, the French president was waiting for a second chance. And she appeared when she visited China at the beginning of the month. In an interview with the online newspaper Politico Europe, he referred to the need for Europeans to stop being “America’s fellow travelers”, getting involved in crises they did not create.
According to Mr. Macron, this also includes Taiwan, because in his opinion it is a matter not related to the vital security problems of Europe, but directly related to the hostile attitude of the USA towards China. A fact that increases the risk of miscalculations and overreaction.
Of course, there was no official reaction from Washington. But prominent Republican figures in the House of Representatives condemned the French president’s “betrayal” of Taiwan, while the Republican chairman of the special committee on relations with China went so far as to call Mr Macron’s position “shameful, disgraceful and geopolitically naive ».
After Mr Macron returned from an official visit to Beijing, it was reported three days ago that the French president had asked his foreign policy adviser Emmanuel Bonne to work with Chinese diplomats to organize a summit in the summer, with the aim of reaching a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine with the help of Beijing.
An indirect response to Mr Macron’s new initiative came from NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Kiev three days ago, when he declared Ukraine’s place in NATO and invited Mr Zelensky to attend the Alliance’s summit in July. We will await with interest the attitude of the Europeanist Macron in the summer.
