UN General Assembly: Macron, active absence against the backdrop of the Indo-Pacific crisis
Presidents Emmanuel Macron and Joe Biden at the last NATO summit in Brussels on June 14, 2021 (Illustrative image).
AP - Brendan Smialowski
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
The United Nations General Assembly opened on Tuesday, September 21 with a series of speeches from the podium, including that of US President Joe Biden.
But there are some absent: the Chinese head of state Xi Jinping, or even Emmanuel Macron.
In the midst of the Australian submarine crisis, the absence of the French number one is even causing a stir in the corridors of the United Nations.
But the latter, for the time being, prefers to speak with India.
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The UN General Assembly? It "
is not mandatory
", justifies the entourage of Emmanuel Macron. At the Élysée, we see that the president is not the only one absent, since half of the heads of state and government do not travel. However, apart from last year when everything took place in video because of the pandemic, the last absence of a French president dates back to 2005. It was Jacques Chirac, who had just come out of the hospital.
This year, it is therefore the Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian who carries the voice of France. When questioned in New York, he very laconically justifies the absence of the Head of State at the microphone of our special envoy,
Anthony Lattier
: “
The president's schedule is very, very busy at the moment. He thought I could possibly make the connection.
"
Nothing essential on the presidential agenda at the start of the week, however. And above all, what arouses the incomprehension of diplomats in New York, it is the fact that Emmanuel Macron did not change his plans in full crisis of the submarines, precisely. Sulking at the risk of isolating yourself? The Élysée denies this, and insists on the fact that the Head of State has already repeatedly affirmed his positions vis-à-vis the United Nations, in particular in favor of multilateralism.
In any case, in New York, the American president, in the absence of his French counterpart, raised the affair from the rostrum.
Washington has no "
closer or more reliable
"
ally
than Canberra, he said, as the two countries agreed last week, with the United Kingdom, to build a new security partnership in three.
This resulted in the abandonment of an order for French submarines by Australia, in favor of American submarines, followed by a diplomatic crisis with Paris.
►
To read also
:
Emmanuel Macron, the great absentee of the UN General Assembly
At a press conference with the American president, still on Tuesday but on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, the Australian Prime Minister for his part tried to calm things down. Scott Morrison assured that Washington and Canberra "held out
their hand
To their European, but also Asian allies.
India, a welcome ally
Basically, Emmanuel Macron is not absent only that; instead, he opted for the underwater response on Tuesday. While the heads of state marched to the rostrum, the Elysee and New Delhi, nothing less, indeed reaffirmed their will "
to act jointly
", especially in the face of China. The French President and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke on the phone, reaffirming their willingness to work together "
in an open and inclusive Indo-Pacific space
", announced the French presidency.
And in a tweet, Mr. Modi himself confirmed having discussed with Emmanuel Macron a "
closer collaboration between India and France in the Indo-Pacific
", paying tribute to the "
importance
" of the bilateral strategic partnership. "
Modi's pragmatism could play a role in helping Macron find the right moment to start reducing the affront
" as he is experienced in Paris, believes Rory Medcalf, director of the National Security College at the National University of Australia, interviewed by AFP.
Spoke with my friend President @EmmanuelMacron on the situation in Afghanistan.
We also discussed closer collaboration between India and France in the Indo-Pacific.
We place great value on our Strategic Partnership with France, including in the UNSC.
- Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 21, 2021
As for the United Kingdom, we are also playing the card of rapprochement, for the time being.
The United Kingdom and France have "
a very friendly relationship
" of "
immense importance
", Boris Johnson told reporters, before adding: "
Our love for France is unwavering
.
"Not sure that these sweet words are enough to calm the anger of the head of French diplomacy, who called London" the
fifth wheel of the carriage
"in this affair.
Guterres calls out to Washington and Beijing
This Tuesday, in his opening speech, the Secretary General of the United Nations warned the United States and China against further degradation of a world already "
on the brink
". Antonio Guterres called for dialogue between Washington and Beijing, especially in the most scrutinized and coveted region of the world at the moment: the Indo-Pacific.
He wished to warn of the risk of a bipolar world trapped in Sino-American tensions. “
We are facing the greatest cascade of crises of our life,
” he noted.
I fear that our world is heading towards two different sets of economic, business, financial and technological rules, two divergent approaches to the development of artificial intelligence and, ultimately, two different military and geopolitical strategies.
"
“
We need to have a dialogue.
We need understanding.
We need to invest in prevention, maintenance and peacebuilding.
We need progress in nuclear disarmament and in our common counterterrorism efforts.
We need actions rooted in respect for human rights,
”insisted Antonio Guterres.
►
To read also
:
At UN General Assembly, Biden "
works
" for Iran's return
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