French rage triggered by exclusion from Indo-Pacific deal
Emmanuel Macron has spent years trying to promote France as an Indo-Pacific power. The jewel of these efforts was the submarine contract negotiated as part of a Franco-Australian strategic partnership.
Paris/Washington | When Antony Blinken came to Paris on June 25, French leaders told the US Secretary of State that France attached the “utmost importance” to its strategic submarine deal with Australia – a deal now sunk by the new AUKUS pact, according to senior French officials.
Jean-Yves Le Drian, France’s foreign minister, also stressed that he viewed the agreement with Australia as a “French-US partnership” because of the significant role played by American defence company Lockheed Martin in the French contract, one French diplomat said. President Emmanuel Macron repeated the messages, according to the French side.
