Macron: Europe must not follow America or China

French President Emmanuel Macron believes Europe should not be a “follower” of the United States or China now that there are tensions between the two superpowers over Taiwan’s position. He says this in a conversation with the French business magazine Les Echos. He also stressed that the European Union risked being caught up in “crises that are not ours”.

China considers democratic Taiwan part of its territory and is committed to taking it one day, by force or otherwise. Last week, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen met with Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy in California. Outraged, Beijing immediately conducted military exercises around the island.

Strategic autonomy

“The worst thing would be to think that we Europeans are followers and have to adapt to the American rhythm or to a Chinese overreaction,” Macron said, returning on Friday from a three-day state visit to China. He underlined the importance of the EU’s “strategic autonomy”: “Whether it is about Ukraine, relations with China or sanctions, we have a European strategy”. And: “We don’t want to find ourselves in a block-to-block logic.

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The emergence of Europe as an independent actor has been a goal of Macron for many years, exemplified by French President Charles de Gaulle (1959-1969), who saw France as a balancing force between the two superpowers of his time, the United States and the Soviet Union.

Macron will be in the Netherlands with his wife Brigitte on Tuesday and Wednesday. They will meet, among others, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima and Prime Minister Mark Rutte.