“A situation to join all together against China, this is a scenario of the highest possible conflictuality. This one, for me, is counterproductive,” Macron said, speaking in English, during a discussion broadcast by Washington-based think tank the Atlantic Council on Thursday, Politico reported.
This kind of common front against China — as other European leaders have advocated given the new Biden administration's revived openness to traditional alliances — risks pushing Beijing to lower its cooperation on issues like combatting climate change, and exacerbating its aggressive behavior in Asia, including in the South China Sea, according to the French president.
Macron also said “the coming semesters will be very critical for Chinese leaders and China,” given the Biden administration’s reengagement in multilateral frameworks like the World Health Organization.
“As the US is reengaging itself, what will be the behavior of China?” Macron asked.
He pitched, once again, holding a summit of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council — China, France, the US, UK and Russia. He had tried to hold such a summit in 2020 but it had fallen prey to Sino-American tensions and never materialized.
Macron said in the Atlantic Council discussion that China was a partner when it comes to climate change. When the Trump administration pulled out of the Paris climate agreement, China remained in it. The French president said Beijing was a competitor on trade and industrial issues and a systemic rival through its behavior in the “Indo-Pacific region and on values, human rights.”
“I think we have to engage China in a bold and efficient climate agenda. And I think the reengagement of the US is a good occasion, as well, to have a proactive and — a discussion on that,” he said.
Macron said there was a need for “a global initiative on trade, industry, and intellectual property” through the World Trade Organization and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, a group of mostly rich countries including France, and admitted that the investment agreement the EU and China signed in December 2020 “failed to deal with the IP issue. Let’s be lucid.”
On technology issues, Macron reiterated his long-held position not to “depend on a 100 percent Chinese solution.” He decided not to allow the deployment and use of Chinese 5G technology in strategic sectors in France. He also said: “I don’t want to depend on 100 percent US decision. Otherwise, I will be put in a situation not to decide for the European continent itself.”
And Macron said there was a need to put pressure on China when it comes to human rights — an issue the Biden administration has been publicly forceful on — while France and other European countries have preferred a more discreet approach to China.
He defended the EU-China investment deal on this issue, amid criticism that the deal is weak on labor rights provisions at a time of mounting evidence of abuses at labor camps in Xinjiang against the Uighur minority.
“For the very first time, China accepted to engage on [International Labour Organization] regulation and to commit precisely on labor issues, which are part of our human rights package,” Macron said.
ZZ/PR