US urges UK to rebuild relations with Paris after submarine contract row
The US has urged Britain to follow its example and try to repair its relations with Paris in the wake of the row over France’s loss of its submarine contract with Australia.
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The French have now largely decided to capitalise on US political embarrassment to win concessions from Washington over a strengthened European defence pillar inside Nato, greater US cooperation in fighting terrorism in the Sahel, and a recognition of the legitimacy of the European Union’s role in the Indo-Pacific, which will be highlighted by a special conference convened by the French during its presidency of the EU in the first half of next year.
But there is no parallel rapprochement between the French and the Australians or the British. Le Drian, giving evidence to the French parliament, said the ball remained in Johnson’s court, adding that there had been a promise of proposals from the French, but none had been submitted.
He was even more scathing about Canberra, saying that it had taken “a leap into the unknown by choosing to resort to technology that Australians do not and will not master in the future. They thus place themselves entirely at the mercy of developments in American policy. I wish our Australian partner, who made the choice for reasons of security – justified by the escalation of tensions with China – to the detriment of sovereignty, does not discover later that it has sacrificed both.”