This striking, but above all symbolic, gesture is intended to express the feeling of betrayal felt by Paris. The Biden administration, however, continues to downplay the French reaction.
France’s recalled ambassador to Australia has likened Canberra’s actions to treason after the Morrison government dumped a $90 billion submarine contract with Paris and instead decided to build nuclear-powered submarines with the United States and Britain.
France on Saturday has taken the extraordinary step of recalling its ambassadors from Australia and the US, as the fallout grows from a new defence pact that has infuriated French President Emmanuel Macron.
Stupor has given way to cold anger. The announcement of the strategic partnership – known as Aukus – between the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom, directed against China is not well accepted by France. This was a shocking gesture, but above all symbolic, which served to formalize the feeling of betrayal felt by Paris after the breaking of the contract for the delivery of twelve conventionally powered submarines to Australia.
The form, humiliating, and the substance of the Aukus affair are intertwined to explain the French motivation, misunderstood on the other side of the Atlantic. On Friday, the political director of the Quai d’Orsay, Philippe Errera, justified this “exceptional decision” by the “exceptional gravity” of the week’s events. “The abandonment of the ocean class submarine project that linked Australia to France since 2016, and the announcement of a new partnership with the United States to launch studies on a possible future cooperation on nuclear-powered submarines, constitute unacceptable behavior between allies and partners, the consequences of which affect the very conception we have of our alliances, our partnerships and the importance of the Indo-Pacific for Europe,” said the head of French diplomacy.
