Rarely has France known such humiliation.

Australia announced Thursday, September 16, the cancellation of a contract worth 56 billion euros concluded in 2016 for the delivery of 12 latest generation submarines, for the benefit of British and American technologies.

The Minister of the Armed Forces, Florence Parly, deplored on RFI "very bad news for the respect of the given word" and a "serious" decision in matters of international politics.

"A unilateral, brutal, unpredictable decision that looks a lot like what Mr. Trump was doing," the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian, got carried away, visibly furious with the American ally who has just whispered "the contract of the century" to him. 

02:01

The anger and astonishment of the French authorities are all the greater since no one had been warned of this Australian turnaround.

France officially discovered its sidelining during an event chaired by Joe Biden at the White House in the company, by interposed screens, of the Australian Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, and his British counterpart, Boris Johnson.

On this occasion, the United States, United Kingdom and Australia announced the launch of an unprecedented strategic partnership in the Indo-Pacific zone called "Aukus" to counter Chinese ambitions.

Between threats to Taiwan and claiming contested areas in the South China Sea, Beijing is increasingly seen as a threat by Washington.

First concrete manifestation of this partnership: the construction of nuclear-powered submarines, with the immediate consequence of the cancellation of the delivery of French conventional submarines by Naval Group, an order on which 500 people worked in Cherbourg, in the north. -West of France.

Geopolitical priority

To justify his decision, the Australian Prime Minister spoke of "not a change of mind, but a change of need". Clearly, by offering this rare sharing of technology, a first since an agreement concluded with the British in 1958, the Americans would have made an offer that the Australians could not refuse.

But this explanation does not hold, according to Jean-Pierre Maulny, specialist in defense issues at the Institute of International and Strategic Relations (Iris), joined by France 24. "Certainly, nuclear propulsion allows more flexibility and greater autonomy.However, the submarine proposed by the French, and which corresponded to the Australian tender, was a so-called oceanic submarine with a long reach.Moreover, France was perfectly capable of providing sub -nuclear-powered sailors in case of change of need. "

>> To read: Why China is firing red bullets on Australia

With this agreement, the Australian Prime Minister in any case shatters the taboo of nuclear in his country, Canberra having formally prohibited its use in 1998, although Australia has rich deposits of uranium. 

New Zealand, which has banned all nuclear-powered ships from its waters since 1985, has already announced that future submarines from its neighbor and Australian ally will not be welcome at home.

Faced with criticism, Scott Morrison insisted that Australia "is not seeking to acquire nuclear weapons or develop civilian nuclear power."

Indeed, the future Australian nuclear submarines, whose construction methods will be the subject of 18 months of negotiations, will not be armed with nuclear warheads, but with Tomahawk cruise missiles.

"History will perhaps tell us one day to what pressures the Australian government has been subjected", asks Matthieu Mabin, the correspondent of France 24 in Washington, according to whom "this reversal of the jacket is unheard of. - seen in the history of shipbuilding ".

01:21

For Jean-Pierre Maulny, France is paying the price here for this political agreement between Anglo-Saxon countries, against the backdrop of rising tensions in the Pacific and the trade war led by China.

“The Chinese coal embargo, in particular, has heightened Australia's concerns about Beijing's rise to power. However, the main security ally in the region is the United States, not the United States. France ", he explains.

Two weeks after the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, Joe Biden, like his predecessor Donald Trump, thus confirms the priority of geopolitical priorities for the United States: to curb Chinese influence in the Pacific.

The American president also brings together, on September 24, in Washington, the Australian, Indian and Japanese Prime Ministers to relaunch a diplomatic format, the "Quad", at a standstill for several years.

Betrayal between allies

Beyond the industrial setback for Naval Group, this new alliance around the United States bypasses French diplomacy in the Pacific, the only European country present in the area.

Based on partnerships with India and Australia, this strategy aims to promote a balance between the various regional powers and above all to avoid a direct confrontation with China.

>> To read: When France crisscrosses the China Sea in an attack submarine

Joe Biden assured that the United States wanted to continue to "work closely with France, (...) a key partner" in this region, but it is unlikely that these sweet words are enough to calm the anger of Paris, who saw this case as a betrayal on the part of the United States. 

"Joe Biden may recall the importance of the French military presence in the Pacific, this low blow will leave traces and can only drive Washington and its oldest ally away," predicts Matthieu Mabin.

"There is also a form of inconsistency in Joe Biden's foreign policy", analyzes Bruno Daroux, international columnist for France 24. "The American president had said that he was going to set up a diplomacy based on alliances and values, unlike Donald Trump. "

02:59

"Finally, there is no more multilateralism under Joe Biden than there was under Trump," assures Jean-Pierre Maulny.

"It reflects the evolution of American strategic thinking which is not tied to the President but rather to the State Department." 

This new upheaval in transatlantic relations is a stark reminder to Europeans that the United States does not care about loyalty when it comes to its strategic interests.

But a milestone has been crossed this time, say French parliamentarians. 

In a press release, the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defense and Armed Forces Committee calls for questioning "the recurring attitude of some of our allies, who behave more like adversaries than loyal competitors."

Between the purchase by Switzerland of American F-35 planes at the expense of the French Rafale last June and the unilateral decision to withdraw from Afghanistan, disputes are piling up between Paris and Washington.

In the meantime, Boris Johnson appears to be the big winner in this case.

Anxious to avoid the isolation of the United Kingdom after Brexit, the British Prime Minister has just achieved one of his most beautiful diplomatic shots. 

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