Macron Says To Biden That We Must Look To The Future At G20 Summit
President Emmanuel Macron says about their plans at the G20 summit to his US counterpart, Joe Biden, for the first time when he met. He met him because the diplomatic conflict between the two countries became rivals over the AUKUS defense agreement. The French president indicated that he intended to have advance relations with Washington. At the same time, Biden acknowledged his own mistakes that he described as “clumsy.”
France is trying to turn the page in the most significant dispute with the United States in decades.
Joe Biden was his American counterpart to President Emmanuel Macron. Macron received him at the French embassy in Rome. The AUKUS agreement announced in September became controversial. Paris had rejected the meeting since the diplomatic conflict between the former allies broke out over the above-referred AUKUS agreement.
After referring to the rebuilding of trust between the two parties, Macron says to Biden that they had to look to the future at the G20 summit. He added that What mattered then was what they would do together in the coming weeks, in the coming months.
The Indo-Pacific Defense Pact, signed between the US, Australia, and the UK, sparked the rage of Paris. The main discomfort? AUKUS sank a millionaire contract, for around 69,431 million USD, in the construction of diesel submarines that Canberra and the French authorities had already agreed on in 2016.
Under the new terms, it established that Washington and London would develop submersibles with nuclear propulsion technology.
The Macron Administration described the unprecedented dispute as “a stab in the back,” even led to the withdrawal of the French ambassadors in Washington and Canberra.
The Elysee Palace stated the return of its diplomatic representative to the US capital later on. However, it warned them that there was still a long way to regain confidence and something that now seems to advance, in the words of the French president.
Macron told the press and Biden that the meeting was essential, as it took place after the AUKUS affair, they embarked on an actual joint project.
France is the only European nation with significant territorial possessions or permanent military presence in the Indo-Pacific region with significant economic and demographic weight. However, Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdom also started seeking action by citing concerns about Chinese influence.
Biden Describes The Actions Of His Government On AUKUS As Clumsy
Biden, The US president, acknowledged mistakes in his Administration and said that What they had done was clumsy, and it did not do it very gracefully. He further said that he had the impression that France had got the information long before they were not carrying the agreement with Australia.
Likewise, the Democratic leader called Paris a ‘precious partner.’ They have no better ally than France, with the same values as the United States.
But according to the information released so far by the White House, Washington does not plan to back down on its submarine agreement with Australia. It also does not plan to provide financial compensation to the Macron Administration for the losses caused.
However, the two countries will continue working on international cooperation projects, judging by the leaders’ declarations before the G20 summit. To Macron, recovery of trust translates in enhanced cooperation.
The French president said that they wanted to strengthen the strategic partnership between the European Union and NATO. He is also showed his desire to collaborate in Indo-Pacific security, from which his country felt displaced.
The attempts of rapprochement between Paris and Canberra were distinctive. Macron returned his ambassador to the Australian capital weeks after that incident. He did the same with his representative in the United States recently. President Macron asked Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison for their financial compensation for the losses of the agreement.
The Elysee Palace made a statement and explained that the government reminded Morrison of the ‘unilateral’ nature of the breach of the contract. Financial compensation weighs for the reestablishment of relations between France and Australia, unlike the agreement with the US.
