French President Emmanuel Macron is standing by his comments about how Europe shouldn’t follow the US into a confrontation with China over Taiwan despite the backlash the remarks have drawn.
“This is something the president stands by entirely,” a French diplomat told reporters, according to Reuters.
Macron’s warning that Europe shouldn’t be “America’s followers” is part of his vision for Europe to have “strategic autonomy” from the US, an idea that some EU officials support.
Charles Michel, the head of the EU’s European Council, said “quite a few” European leaders think like Macron when it comes to the relationship with the US.
“There is indeed a great attachment that remains present — and Emmanuel Macron has said nothing else — for this alliance with the United States. But if this alliance with the United States would suppose that we blindly, systematically follow the position of the United States on all issues, no,” Michel said.
Macron made his comments on the way home from China, where he vowed to work with Beijing on fostering negotiations to bring an end to the Ukraine war, breaking from the US, which has rejected the idea of China as a mediator.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) slammed Macron for visiting Beijing, writing on Twitter that ” his latest visit to China only emboldens the communists and President Xi who seems to be hell bent on rewriting world order and taking Taiwan by force.”
No doubt the BlueAnon crowd will start referring to Macron as Macronski and France as Francoskaya.
Macron’s comments are a breath of fresh air from the dying corpse that is the EU. Even Michel gave a hat tip to Macron signaling that he fears the crumbling of the EU under his presidential feet. How does the EU maintain its control over EU member nations when one by one they begin to reject US led and EU imposed foreign and domestic policy demands? They have previously imposed their will through the ECB and applied various degrees of austerity to dissident member,….most memorably Greece. Things are getting interesting.
Good for Macron! Better to lead than to follow (USA).
Well, maybe France doesn’t want to be involved in WWIII? Glad to see at least one head of state in Europe is getting a clue. We’ll see if the trend continues. Europe will again be the battlefield if WWIII breaks out and will have the most to lose, but America may not be exempt this time with all those H bombs, missiles, subs and planes to deliver them.
It is of course good to see President Macron awakening to friendship with China. It is possible he will come to emulate President Xi and learn to care for and listen to the intelligence of French people. We will know Macron has grown when he quits behaving like a bankster’s dictator suppressing the will of the people with thuggish police enforcers.
France has always (to me) been a country of romance, lovers. Macron needs to keep his country same and sound (and full of romance).
“Europe shouldn’t follow the US into a confrontation with China over Taiwan… Europe shouldn’t be “America’s followers””
….. French President Emmanuel Macron (who stands by that “despite the backlash his remarks have drawn”)
if you could count the number of critics of his remarks on one hand, which finger of that hand would uncle sam be.
Middle. What do I win? 🙂
Not much flexibility… https://media2.giphy.com/media/5T8tEJtCgvDuo/giphy.gif
not so fast, am still waiting to hear from the “uncle sam is the thumbs-up” gang
thumbs-up what?
I’d still win. Thumbs don’t count.
😂
What about a clenched fist, Spy?
LOL
Fully back Macron. More NATO countries need to wake up.
Macron is no fool. I suspect this trip was strongly colored by business prospects. Either way, I applaud any rebellion on the part of the Europeans against the gangsters in DC.
Agreed and well said, imo.
I doubt his motives are ‘pure’.
But it’s nice to see him say what he has on this subject, just the same.
Macron is a snake in the grass. The whole transparent point is — a deal with US to tempt China into European promised land for a price: ditch Russia.
Everybidy gets it. May be not the perennialy naive ones,
France and Germany lied when they signed agreement with Janukovic — enabling West armed Nazus to storm Ukrainian parliamenr. Then they lied again — Minsk agreement, Once they got a zionist ected in Ukraine, no need for pretending any more. Macron needs it domestically as populace is up in arms. Now acting brave defending nation! I have many bridges to sell to anyone believing a word out of his mouth.
China is an old country and saw plenty iof Macrons in the past.
It’s way cool to be part French 😁
Those darn French. They claim to be a democracy, but they won’t do what we tell them to.😉
Perhaps off-shoring production so global corporations can pay bigger dividends was not such a wise idea after all?
The powers that be say it will be several years before the missiles fly so perhaps we need to onshore some chip production and let Australia (the Brits) and Japan know that it’s their shipping lanes in the China sea and if it’s such a big deal to them then they need to be the ones going to war over them, not us?