Terming Taiwan as a “crisis that is not ours,” the French President said that Europeans should stay out of it and not be “America’s followers.”
Macron made the above remarks in an interview with Politico and Les Echos while he was on his flight returning to France after his three-day (April 5 to 7) visit to China where, as per Xinhua, the two countries inked many cooperation agreements in the field of aviation, aerospace and civilian nuclear and wing energy, science, and technology, building a China-France carbon neutrality centre and joint training of talent, Asian Lite International reported.
Irked over the comment of the French President, the US Republican Senator noted in a social media post that if Macron spoke for all of Europe, then the US should consider focusing its foreign policy on containing China and leave Europe to handle the war in Ukraine, as per Asian Lite International.
In an editorial, the Wall Street Journal termed Emmanuel Macron’s remarks on Taiwan as “unhelpful comments” which would undermine American and Japanese deterrence against China in the western Pacific.
Moreover, what sent shockwaves through the corridors of power throughout the West was the three-day military exercise that China conducted against Taiwan on April 7, hours after the French President’s flight left Guangzhou. In response to the meeting between US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in Simi Valley, California, on April 5, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army organised a military exercise against Taiwan from April 8 to April 10.
America and its allies, especially those from Europe, continued their commitment to democracy and its ideals. They consider it as their rightful duty to safeguard these values, which is why they are backing Taiwan and Ukraine.
A defeat in Ukraine, in their view, would be a devastating blow to democracy and result in a more unstable and risky world. They have the same viewpoint as Taiwan, an island with a democratic government that is in danger of being occupied by China forcibly.
The self-governing island of Taiwan, which views itself as distinct from mainland China and has its own constitution as well as a democratically elected government, is recognised by neither the US nor its allies from Europe or Asia, despite their support for “The One China policy.”
The Taiwan Strait, a water body separating the island from China, is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the Indo-Pacific area. It is located at the confluence of the East China Sea, the South China Sea, and the Philippines Sea.
90 per cent of the most advanced semiconductor chips are produced in Taiwan, a key link in the world’s technological supply chains. Chips are produced by TSMC, a firm with a market value of over USD100 billion, for both civilian and military customers worldwide.
In light of this, the arguments put forth by experts include that if Taiwan are left undefended and if China is given free hand to invade the island, it will harm the tech industry’s worldwide supply chain.
Some experts think that this global tech sector disruption will be so significant that it will take years for even technologically advanced nations to recover from the losses they would sustain as a result of China’s forced annexation of Taiwan. But, Beijing’s takeover of Taiwan would give the country significant control over one of the most significant industries in the US, Europe, Japan, South Korea, and others.
In spite of the importance of Taiwan for the world, politically, economically, and technologically, French President Emmanuel Macron in his interview with Politico said, “The question Europeans need to answer….. is it in our interest to accelerate (a crisis) on Taiwan? No. The worst thing would be to think that we Europeans must become followers on this topic and take our cue from the US agenda and a Chinese overreaction.”
There is no disputing the French President’s desire to mollycoddle China while keeping the business aspect in mind. It was clear that this was the case when Emmanuel Macron visited China and signed numerous deals there with a delegation of about 50 business executives, according to a report published in Asian Lite International.
According to Foreign Policy magazine, the business delegation led by the French President to China in November 2022 was four times larger than the one led by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. An official from Huawei France’s board of directors and the former French prime minister Jean Pierre Raffarin were both part of Macron’s team.
During Macron’s visit to China last week, Airbus said that it would provide 50 helicopters to GDAT, one of the country’s biggest helicopter lessors.
A day before, the French aerospace company had announced plans to build a second assembly line at its Tianjin plant in order to double its production in China, according to Asian Lite International.
China’s energy giant and cosmetics leader L’Oreal signed a deal with e-commerce platform Alibaba on sustainable consumption, and the water and waste management company Suez secured a desalination contract with China’s Wanhua Chemical while Electricite de France (EDF) renewed its contract with China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN). These corporate transactions demonstrated the French President’s desire to further the trade and economic interests of his country rather to support Western nations’ deterrence of Taiwan.
Yet, this has effectively cut Macron off from friends and allies in Europe, Asia, and America who seek to dissuade China from its plans for the Indo-Pacific area, reported Asian Lite International. (ANI)
