French President Emmanuel Macron sparked a resounding media surprise, and came out with statements issued for the first time by a European head of a country allied to the United States and a member of NATO, during which he considered that Europe should reduce its dependence on the US dollar outside the “regional borders” and avoid being drawn into confrontation. between Beijing and Washington on Taiwan.
During remarks reported by Politico newspaper during his meeting with a number of French journalists on his plane returning from a three-day visit to China, and published on Sunday, Macron said: Europe must reduce its dependence on the United States and avoid being drawn into a confrontation between China and the United States over Taiwan. Emphasizing his theory of “strategic autonomy” for Europe, which France is supposed to lead to become a third great power, as he put it.
He added, “The great danger that Europe faces is that it is stuck in crises that do not concern us or our crises, which prevents it from building its strategic independence.” He stressed that “the Europeans should not be followers of the United States in crises that Europe has nothing to do with.”
On the other hand, Macron pointed out that Europe has increased its dependence on the United States in the field of weapons and energy, and therefore Europe must now focus on strengthening European defense industries.
Macron also called for the need for Europe to reduce its dependence on the dollar extraterritorially.
Meanwhile, the Chinese embassy in Britain criticized the insistence of the United States, Britain and Australia to move forward with the “Ocus” agreement for nuclear submarines, despite widespread skepticism about it, stressing that this creates risks of nuclear proliferation and undermines the international non-proliferation regime.
Xinhua news agency quoted the embassy as saying in a press statement: The cooperation between Britain, Australia and the United States within the framework of the “Ocos” will lead to the re-emergence of the Cold War mentality, the launch of a new round of the arms race, and an increase in regional security and military confrontation, which endangers peace and stability. And the regional prosperity of the region is greatly compromised.
The embassy considered that the Okus agreement aims to create an exact copy of NATO in the Asia-Pacific region, which is inconsistent with peace and stability in the region.
In its statement, the embassy said: This agreement represents the first time that the nuclear-weapon states transfer marine nuclear propulsion reactors and highly enriched weapons-grade uranium to a non-nuclear-weapon state, stressing that such a matter poses risks to nuclear proliferation and threatens the authority The International Atomic Energy Agency seriously, deals a blow to its safeguards system.