Usually when the French surrender, they're at least surrendering themselves. In this case, according to a Politico report, France's president appears to be willing to surrender another democratic country – Taiwan – to its aggressive, authoritarian neighbor. Emmanuel Macron has been preoccupied with violent protests in the streets of his own country lately, as the French riot over modest reforms to their bloated and unsustainable welfare state.
A lack of industriousness ranks right up there with surrendering among notorious hallmarks of French culture, so the unions revolting over a slight change to the retirement age is very much on brand:
French workers marched and went on strike around the country on Thursday for the 11th time in three months, as the stalemate between President Emmanuel Macron and labor unions endured even after his pension overhaul, which raised the legal age of retirement to 64 from 62, has become law. About 570,000 protesters took to the streets of France, according to French authorities, with violent clashes in some places. Unions gave the much higher figure of 2 million...Disruptions and small acts of protest, like brief traffic blockages, have not stopped, including on days without organized protests, and some strikes could pick up again. In Paris, where the streets are now clear of mounds of trash that had piled up during a weekslong garbage-collector walkout, one of the main unions is threatening a new strike next week. Unions are also planning a new day of protests on the eve of a key ruling on the pension law by the Constitutional Council, a body that reviews legislation to ensure that it conforms to the Constitution. That ruling is expected next week.
...Electricity workers have continued making sporadic power cuts in official buildings, including at a local prefecture in Lyon on Thursday. Some universities are still being occupied by protesting students. The chaotic unrest that followed Mr. Macron’s decision to push the law through Parliament without a full vote has slightly subsided — but not the persistent opposition to the pension overhaul and the anger against Mr. Macron, who is currently on a state visit to China but is closely following the turmoil back home. While the protests around the country were mostly calm, they were also marred by now-familiar clashes and injuries, as a minority of protesters threw projectiles at riot police, who responded with tear gas and batons.
The rioters even attacked one of Macron's favorite restaurants in Paris, setting it on fire late last week. Perhaps this was weighing on the president's mind as he met with the CCP dictator. As relayed in this interview, Macron thrilled Chairman Xi by effectively throwing Taiwan to the wolves, breaking with US policy. The message appears to be that if China's Communist regime decides to invade a democratic country, that wouldn't be any of France's business:
Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party have enthusiastically endorsed Macron’s concept of strategic autonomy and Chinese officials constantly refer to it in their dealings with European countries. Party leaders and theorists in Beijing are convinced the West is in decline and China is on the ascendant and that weakening the transatlantic relationship will help accelerate this trend...Beijing has repeatedly threatened to invade in recent years and has a policy of isolating the democratic island by forcing other countries to recognize it as part of “one China.” ...“Stability in the Taiwan Strait is of paramount importance,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who accompanied Macron for part of his visit, said she told Xi during their meeting in Beijing last Thursday. “The threat [of] the use of force to change the status quo is unacceptable.” Xi responded by saying anyone who thought they could influence Beijing on Taiwan was deluded. Macron appears to agree with that assessment. “Europeans cannot resolve the crisis in Ukraine; how can we credibly say on Taiwan, ‘watch out, if you do something wrong we will be there’? If you really want to increase tensions that’s the way to do it,” he said.
This is also a newsworthy detail of Macron's riffing:
He also suggested Europe should reduce its dependence on the “extraterritoriality of the U.S. dollar,” a key policy objective of both Moscow and Beijing. Russia, China, Iran and other countries have been hit by U.S. sanctions in recent years that are based on denying access to the dominant dollar-denominated global financial system. Some in Europe have complained about “weaponization” of the dollar by Washington, which forces European companies to give up business and cut ties with third countries or face crippling secondary sanctions...He did not address the question of ongoing U.S. security guarantees for the Continent, which relies heavily on American defense assistance amid the first major land war in Europe since World War II. As one of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and the only nuclear power in the EU, France is in a unique position militarily. However, the country has contributed far less to the defense of Ukraine against Russia’s invasion than many other countries.
Macron was tossing bouquets at the CCP and talking tough against the United States – but was apparently mum on the issue of America's decades-long, extremely generous security guarantees for his country and Europe generally. Perhaps the French leader would be more credible on the question of staying out of another region's potential future crisis if France were more involved in helping defeat Russia's war of aggression within continental Europe. As the story notes, the French have "contributed far less" to the effort than other countries, which has drawn criticism. Is France looking to align itself with the genocidal tyrants in Beijing over the United States and the West? Macron wants America to foot much of the bill for his country's security (and for an invaded European country's defense), then he runs off to China and cozies up to Xi while effectively stiff-arming the transatlantic alliance. US officials need to ask some very pointed questions of their French counterparts. Perhaps a reconsideration of Washington's relationship with Paris may be in order. And as some have noted, it seems as though Macron was even more brash and brazen in his comments to reporters, some of which were removed by the French government, per an editorial note attached to the Politico story:
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So after meeting with China, Macron basically suggests that Europe should cede Taiwan to China and it isn’t their problem.
— AG (@AGHamilton29) April 9, 2023
That was the takeaway even after Politico apparently allowed Macron’s office to choose what gets shared with readers. https://t.co/JWWvGufaKL pic.twitter.com/0o0WuXh20j
"The quotes in this article were all actually said by the president, but some parts of the interview in which the president spoke even more frankly about Taiwan and Europe’s strategic autonomy were cut out by the Elysée." It sounds like Macron's statements were even more to Beijing's liking than was reported in the article, to such an extent that his censors decided to strike some of them from the record. How appropriate. One of the top foreign policy voices in the United States Senate is responding to Macron's insolence with some uncomfortable questions and points directed at France and other EU countries:
We need to find out if @EmmanuelMacron speaks for Europe
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) April 9, 2023
After his 6 hour meeting in China he told reporters that Europe should create distance with the U.S. & should not get involved in supporting America over China when it comes to Taiwanhttps://t.co/xoFmUGkumH pic.twitter.com/Ps718bXSyn
China and Russia are trying to drive wedges within the West, and the French president evidently is happy to help in that endeavor. Will the Biden administration just shrug this off? One of the few remaining areas of critical bipartisan commitment in Congress is on the need to counter China's growing and malign influence around the world. Consecutive Speakers of the House, one from each party, have defied Beijing's saber-rattling to stand with our Taiwanese allies. Xi's regime has reacted with tantrums and provocations:
To my friends at @Reagan_Library and @HudsonInstitute—this is a badge of honor. Reagan would be proud.https://t.co/Us9ESxhWpJ
— Mike Pompeo (@mikepompeo) April 8, 2023
China holds military drills around Taiwan in "stern warning" after Tsai-McCarthy meeting https://t.co/zzq8cTEXOZ
— Axios (@axios) April 9, 2023
The CCP is raging at the US and Taiwan, and they now appear to have an ally in France. One wonders what Macron might have to say about his new dear friend's cover-up of the origins of COVID, destruction of democracy (in violation of international law) in Hong Kong, genocide against minorities, and other atrocious conduct. If the French leader is anything like other Western hacks and stooges, he'd probably have very little to say about any of that at all.
