France's Macron calls for Asian coalitions as he warns of US-China divisions

SINGAPORE: French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday (May 30) that division between the two superpowers, the United States and China, is the main risk currently confronting the world as he emphasised the need for building new coalitions between Paris and partners in the Indo-Pacific.

Macron is visiting the region as France and the European Union aim to strengthen their commercial ties in Asia to offset uncertainty over US President Donald Trump's tariff measures.

"I will be clear, France is a friend and an ally of the United States, and is a friend, and we do cooperate - even if sometimes we disagree and compete - with China," said Macron, who was speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia's premier defence forum, alongside a two-day state visit to Singapore.

The French president said in his keynote address that Asia and Europe have a common interest in preventing the disintegration of the global order.

"The time for non-alignment has undoubtedly passed, but the time for coalitions of action has come, and requires that countries capable of acting together give themselves every means to do so," Macron said.

Macron also urged China to stop its ally North Korea from sending forces to help Russia's war in Ukraine if it wanted to avoid NATO expanding its role in Asia.

"If China doesn't want NATO being involved in Southeast Asia or in Asia, they should prevent DPRK to be engaged on European soil," he said.

Macron added that abandoning war-torn Gaza to its own fate and giving Israel a "free pass" would kill the West's credibility with the rest of the world.

"If we abandon Gaza, if we consider there is a free pass for Israel, even if we do condemn the terrorist attacks, we will kill our credibility," he said. "And this is why we do reject double standard."

Macron is following the leaders of China, Japan and other European countries in visiting the region in recent weeks, in a sign of Southeast Asia's strategic importance amid uncertainties on global supply chains and trade.

The French leader also warned that if the United States and Europe were not able to bring an end to Russia's war in Ukraine, it would impact their credibility in the Indo-Pacific region as well.

"If the United States of America and the Europeans are unable to fix in the short term the Ukraine crisis, I think the credibility of the US and Europe to fix any other crisis in this region will be very low," he said.

Putin ordered tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022 after eight years of fighting in eastern Ukraine between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian troops.

Russia currently controls just under one-fifth of the country. Though Russian advances have accelerated over the past year, the war is costing both Russia and Ukraine dearly in terms of casualties and military spending.

Macron also warned of risks to Asia if a precedent was created by allowing Russia to take control of part of Ukraine's territory unopposed.

"If we consider that Russia could be allowed to take a part of the territory of Ukraine without any restriction, without any constraint, without any reaction of the global order ... what could happen in Taiwan?"

China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has stepped up military and political pressure to assert those claims, including increasing the intensity of war games, saying the island is one of its provinces with no right to be called a state.