While French President Emmanuel Macron shares the US desire to contain China, he refuses to view China’s systemic rivalry with the West in zero-sum terms. Cooperation with the US is essential, but so is more open-minded diplomacy in the Indo-Pacific, including toward China.
TEL AVIV – Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year galvanized the West against not only the Kremlin, but also other rivals, especially an increasingly assertive China. But last month, French President Emmanuel Macron headed to Beijing, where he declared that, on sensitive matters like Taiwan, Europe should not simply follow America’s lead. The United States was not pleased, but nor should it have been surprised.
TEL AVIV – Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year galvanized the West against not only the Kremlin, but also other rivals, especially an increasingly assertive China. But last month, French President Emmanuel Macron headed to Beijing, where he declared that, on sensitive matters like Taiwan, Europe should not simply follow America’s lead. The United States was not pleased, but nor should it have been surprised.