Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday (September 17th) that he raised the possibility of Australia canceling the order for French submarines during talks with French President Emmanuel Macron in June.
France replies that it was not informed of Australia's intention to renounce the contract of several tens of billions of dollars that it had signed with France, and to acquire American nuclear submarines.
>> Read on France24.com: The Australian submarine affair torpedoes relations between Paris and Washington
Australia on Thursday announced it was renouncing the deal with France's Naval Group to build a fleet of conventional submarines and would instead build at least eight nuclear-powered submarines with the technology. American and British.
"It's really […] a blow in the back," reacted Thursday Jean-Yves Le Drian on France info.
"We had established a relationship of trust with Australia, that trust is being betrayed."
"I was very clear"
On Thursday, Scott Morrison said France had been warned of Australia's decision, a statement France denied.
On Friday, the Australian Prime Minister acknowledged the damage inflicted on relations between Australia and France, but reaffirmed having informed Emmanuel Macron in June that Australia had revised its position on the agreement and that it could be brought to make another decision.
>> To see on France 24: THE DEBATE - Contract of the French submarines: the coup of Trafalgar in Indo-Pacific
"I was very clear, we had a long dinner in Paris, on our concerns about the capabilities of conventional submarines to cope with the new strategic environment we are facing," Scott Morrison told 5aa radio.
"I made it very clear that this was an issue Australia had to make a decision on in its national interest," he added.
This American-Australian alliance to the detriment of France constitutes in Paris an additional element of mistrust towards the United States of Joe Biden, and this while the American president tries to gather his support in Asia and in the Pacific in order to counter the influence of China.
With Reuters
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