France shows strong resentment towards the United States and Australia.
The background is that France's joint development plan for a submarine with Australia has been abandoned.
France is strongly opposed, such as deciding to summon ambassadors stationed in the United States and Australia.
With the new security framework ...
On the 15th of this month, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia decided to create a new security framework called "AUKUS" with China in mind to support the deployment of Australian nuclear submarines. rice field.
As a result, Australia's joint development plan for submarines with France has been abandoned.
France strongly opposes this.
Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian announced on the 17th that he has decided to summon both French ambassadors to the United States and Australia at the request of President Emmanuel Macron.
France is backed by distrust of the United States
In France, this problem was widely reported in many media as "submarine crisis" every day, and headlines such as "serious destruction of trust" and "the contract of the century was hit by a torpedo" were lined up, and the United States suddenly You can see the magnitude of the impact of the announcement.
Behind the strong opposition from the French government is the distrust that the Biden administration in the United States may be downplaying the alliance.
France has been strongly expecting the restoration of relations with the United States with the inauguration of President Biden, as the relationship with the former Trump administration, which advocated its own country first, continued to be jerky over trade and climate change.
However, when the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan last month, France called for a postponement of the withdrawal deadline of the U.S. military to ensure the evacuation of its own people, but the Biden administration was scheduled at the end of last month. Completed the withdrawal of the army.
The total contract amount is more than 7 trillion yen, also known as the "contract of the century"
The French government said that there was no prior consultation regarding the creation of "AUKUS" announced by President Biden this time.
Security in this region is of particular importance to France, which has overseas territories in the Indo-Pacific region, and is one of the earliest European countries to launch its own strategy in 2018.
Among them, Australia is positioned as an important partner in the Indo-Pacific region along with Japan and India, and its core has received an order from the Australian government after competing with Japan and Germany five years ago. This is a joint development plan for 12 submarines.
The total amount of the contract is estimated to be 56 billion euros including additional costs, and more than 7 trillion yen in Japanese yen, and it has been called the "contract of the century" in France.
For that reason, the abandonment of the development plan was a big shock to the French government, and Foreign Minister Ludrian, who himself signed a contract during the defense minister's era of the previous administration, severely slammed the Australian government on the 16th. After criticizing him, he also expressed discomfort with the Biden administration, saying, "One-sided and unpredictable decisions are similar to what former President Trump was doing."
Biden Administration A sense of crisis over China's military buildup
The U.S. Biden administration decided to provide Australia with nuclear submarine technology, even in the face of France's backlash, ensuring that Australia was incorporated into its military strategy with China in mind and its policy toward China. It seems that there was an aim to show concrete results at home and abroad.
First of all, there is a sense of crisis about China's military buildup.
In the Western Pacific region, while the US military's superiority over the Chinese military is being lost, its own military spending cannot be significantly increased, and it was essential to strengthen cooperation with allies in the Indo-Pacific region.
In addition, nuclear submarines have a wide operational area and can be deployed not only in the South China Sea but also in the East China Sea and the Indian Ocean, and if American technology is used, there is an advantage that it is easy to "integrate operation" with the US military.
On the other hand, it seems that there was also a desire to dispel the skeptical views of the Biden administration's diplomatic and military strategies.
President Biden's domestic approval rating has fallen to its lowest level since taking office due to the turmoil associated with the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.
In addition, Asian countries have voiced that they have not shown a clear strategy to counter China, and they have been forced to take concrete actions.
High-performance submarines needed due to changing Australian regional conditions
As the six submarines it owns have deteriorated, Australia was aiming to jointly develop 12 new submarines with foreign countries and introduce them sequentially from the 2030s.
And five years ago, in 2016, I chose France as a collaborative partner from France, Germany, and Japan.
However, according to local media reports, the cost of joint development has almost doubled from the beginning to about 7 trillion yen in Japanese yen, and the progress of the plan has been delayed, so within the government. It means that there was a voice of dissatisfaction.
He also planned to develop a regular diesel-type submarine with France, but when he decided to introduce a nuclear submarine, Prime Minister Morrison said, "The originally planned French submarine is no longer the best for Australia. It's no longer an option, "he said, explaining that the situation in the Indo-Pacific region has changed and a higher-performance nuclear submarine is needed.
Australia's relations with China are chilling in the areas of trade and security, so it wants to restrain China by strengthening its defense capabilities in collaboration with the United States and the United Kingdom, which share democratic values. There seems to be.
Regarding France's opposition, Prime Minister Morrison emphasized that he explained to the French side in advance that the abolition of the joint development plan was explained on the 19th. Said.
Expert "The importance of the Indo-Pacific region remains the same"
Professor Tetsuo Kotani of Meikai University, who is familiar with security issues in the Indo-Pacific region, said about "AUKUS", "Australia has agreed to develop a submarine with France, but the delivery date is likely to be delayed, and the cost will rise steadily. On the other hand, it seems that the United States thought that Australia would talk with France and proceed with cooperation with them, "said each country's speculation. He suggested that it might have been slightly different.
On top of that, "France has been very strongly opposed to the withdrawal of Afghanistan by summoning an ambassador at the time when it was raising distrust of the Biden administration. However, for each country, India The importance of the Pacific region remains the same, and we all agree that we must balance with China, so even if it is difficult to repair the relationship in the short term, it is necessary to reinforce the relationship in the medium to long term. I think we will be forced to do so. "
How do you position "AUKUS" and "QUAD"?
Regarding the positioning of "AUKUS" and the framework "QUAD" of the four countries of Japan, the United States, Australia, and India, "In the Indo-Pacific region, there was a discussion over the past few years on how to think about the framework of cooperation centered on QUAD. QUAD was originally expected to have a stronger military implication, but recently it has become more focused on economic security, while military cooperation. There was a strong judgment, especially within the Byden administration, that a framework was needed to deepen the situation, which is believed to have led to AUKUS. "
"In the future, the United States will create various frameworks in this region in a more flexible manner and utilize them in an optimal manner for each problem. Japan will also have a flexible idea to develop the framework of this region. We need to think and coordinate with the United States and other countries. "
China "The only winner is America"
The electronic version of the Chinese Communist Party's newspaper, People's Daily, published an analysis of the domestic media dealing with military news about Australia's support from the United States and others over the deployment of nuclear submarines.
According to the article, "Nuclear submarines that can navigate to distant waters will be attractive to Australia, which follows the United States, which wants to tackle the problems of the South China Sea and Taiwan."
"In this phase, the only winner is the United States, because it will be the first in the region close to the Asia-Pacific to have the ability to maintain and repair nuclear submarines," he said, using his allies to siege China. We are restraining that we are strengthening the network.
He also described this situation as "a behavior like the United States that undermines the interests of others and benefits France is afflicting France," which could lead to internal conflicts between NATO members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. I point out that there is no.