Franco-German Perspectives: Europe's Moment of Geopolitics

Landry Charrier

President Macron’s remarks on Taiwan and the immediate reactions by policy-makers and commentators felt like a déjà vu. While he wanted to talk about the importance of European strategic autonomy, his partners understood equidistance and turning away from the US. Not that the timing was bad. A few hours earlier, China had launched a large-scale military maneuver off Taiwan with the aim of testing the sealing off of the island state. A clear message from President Macron would have strengthened France's position in the Indo-Pacific and drawn attention to the key point of his interview of early April. But things turned out differently. The speech he gave two days later in The Hague was drowned out by the never-ending criticism related to his earlier remarks on Taiwan. Yet, his earlier remarks laid the foundations for a European economic doctrine that deserves more substantial attention and more discussion. Unfortunately, this did not happen either.