.jpg)
Europe must reduce its dependency on the United States and avoid getting dragged into a confrontation between China and the U.S. over Taiwan, French President Emmanuel Macron said in an interview on his plane back from a three-day state visit to China. Macron emphasized his pet theory of “strategic autonomy” for Europe, presumably led by France, to become a “third superpower.”
Speaking with POLITICO and two French journalists after spending around six hours with Chinese President Xi Jinping during his trip, Macron said, “the great risk” Europe faces is that it “gets caught up in crises that are not ours, which prevents it from building its strategic autonomy.” Just hours after his flight left Guangzhou headed back to Paris, China launched large military exercises around the self-ruled island of Taiwan, which China claims as its territory but the U.S. has promised to arm and defend.
Macron also suggested Europe should reduce its dependence on the “extraterritoriality of the U.S. dollar,” a key policy objective of both Moscow and Beijing. He argued that Europe had increased its dependency on the U.S. for weapons and energy and must now focus on boosting European defense industries. “If the tensions between the two superpowers heat up… we will become vassals,” he said.
Macron’s concept of strategic autonomy has been endorsed by Chinese officials, who constantly refer to it in their dealings with European countries. Party leaders and theorists in Beijing are convinced that weakening the transatlantic relationship will help accelerate this trend, as they believe the West is in decline and China is on the ascendant.
Macron warned that Europe must resist the pressure to become “America’s followers” and suggested that “Europe is more willing to accept a world in which China becomes a regional hegemon.” Speaking on the crisis in Ukraine, Macron said, “Europeans cannot resolve the crisis in Ukraine; how can we credibly say on Taiwan, ‘watch out, if you do something wrong we will be there’? If you really want to increase tensions, that’s the way to do it.”
Macron’s comments on strategic autonomy come at a time when the European Union (EU) is considering new sanctions against Russia over its troop buildup near Ukraine. The EU has long been divided over its relationship with Russia and the issue of energy security, with some member states arguing for closer ties and others for sanctions.
While sitting in the stateroom of his A330 aircraft in a hoodie with the words “French Tech” emblazoned on the chest, Macron claimed to have already “won the ideological battle on strategic autonomy” for Europe. In this battle, Macron believes Europe must become a third superpower, independent from both the United States and China.
