Jakarta –
Government French withdrew its ambassador to United States of America and Australia in a heated dispute over submarine contract cancellation. This was an unprecedented move, showing the extent of France’s anger towards its two allies.
As reported by the news agency AFP, Saturday (18/9/2021), Minister of Foreign Affairs (Menlu) French Jean-Yves Le Drian said President Emmanuel Macron withdrew the ambassadors after Canberra canceled a deal to buy submarines. French for the sake of getting nuclear submarine United States of America.
Le Drian said the decision was made to “immediately” withdraw the two French ambassadors because of the “extraordinary seriousness of the announcement made on 15 September by Australia and United States of America“.
It says French Foreign Minister that, the abandonment of the submarine project that has been worked on Australia and France since 2016 constitutes “unacceptable behavior among allies and partners.”
“The consequences affect the concept we have of our alliance, our partnership and the importance of the Indo-Pacific to Europe,” he added.
Earlier, US President Joe Biden announced a new Australia-US-UK defense alliance last Wednesday (15/9), extending US nuclear submarine technology to Australia as well as cyber defense, applied artificial intelligence and underwater capabilities.
– .
