France reveal West’s divide over deterrence against China

Political turmoil in the West has persisted a week after French President Emmanuel Macron created controversy suggesting that the West shouldn’t turn into a “vassal” and that it should stay out of any issues between the US and China over Taiwan.

Macron termed Taiwan as a “crisis that is not ours,” 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.