Macron for European Independence Rather Than U.S. Subservience

April 9, 2023, 2022 (EIRNS)—The “great risk” Europe faces is that of becoming “caught up in crises that are not ours, which prevents it from building its strategic autonomy,” said French President Emmanuel Macron, speaking with reporters on his travel back to France from his meetings in China.

Such strategic autonomy would be threatened if Europe, “overcome with panic” were to “believe we are just America’s followers,” said the President. “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,” Politico quotes him as saying.

Macron’s view on Taiwan contrasts with that of Ursula von der Leyen. “Stability in the Taiwan Strait is of paramount importance,” she scolded Xi Jinping. “The threat [of] the use of force to change the status quo is unacceptable.” Xi responded that anyone who thinks they could influence Beijing’s policy that Taiwan is part of China is deluded.

“Europeans cannot resolve the crisis in Ukraine,” Macron told reporters. “How can we credibly say on Taiwan, ‘watch out—if you do something wrong, we will be there’? If you want to increase tensions, that’s the way to do it.” Apparently Macron “spoke even more frankly about Taiwan,” but the French President’s office did not allow full publication of his remarks.

On the economy, Macron also said Europe should reduce its dependence on the “extraterritoriality of the U.S. dollar.”