Do not overinterpret statements.
(Photo: ddp/Yue Yuewei Xinhua/eyevine)
After Emmanuel Macron’s statements on Europe’s China policy, commentators in Germany took a hard stance on the French President. Macron must have lost his mind, some speculated, looking at interviews that were interpreted as French distancing from the United States.
But it’s worth taking a calmer look at the controversy: Macron’s words were undoubtedly unfortunate, and the timing of the statements was a foreign policy faux pas. In essence, however, Macron has said nothing new with his call for “strategic autonomy” for Europeans.
The President’s thoughts on global politics first appeared in the French business newspaper “Les Echos” over the Easter period and went largely unnoticed. Only when the news portal “Politico” published a conversation in English translation did the outrage swell.
Macron’s mantra of the “sovereign EU”
In both interviews, Macron spoke about Europe’s position in the growing dispute between the US and China. The President has always advocated a “sovereign EU” that would have to reduce its economic and security policy dependencies. In his insistence on independence, he differs from the more transatlantic perspective in Germany.
On the other hand, Macron is not calling for equidistance from Washington and Beijing or detachment from the United States – which, by the way, distinguishes him from the political forces on the left and right fringes of French politics.
In his Easter interviews, the French President did not announce any change in this position. However, he lacked diplomatic sensitivity in the wording, especially with regard to the timing.
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Macron spoke on the return journey from a visit to China, during which the business delegation that had traveled with him did good business. Meanwhile, the Chinese military launched a large-scale military exercise around Taiwan. The French President failed to clearly condemn Beijing’s threatening gestures.
Instead, he raised the question of whether Europe had an interest in an escalation of the Taiwan conflict. He warned that Europeans would become “followers” dependent on the “American rhythm” and a “Chinese overreaction”.
Finally, Macron said that Europe should not align its priorities “to the agenda of others” – even in “crises that are not ours”. In view of the American support that Europe is experiencing in the Ukraine war, these statements were more than insensitive.
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