Aukus: France drops Australia as key Indo-Pacific partner after sub snub

A decision by Canberra to abandon a multibillion-dollar submarine contract with France was viewed by Macron as a betrayal, and sparked a diplomatic row

After re-evaluating the strategic relationship, France will now ‘pursue bilateral cooperation with Australia on case-by-case basis’

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France has said a degree of trust has been restored with the US but not with Australia. File photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 10:12am, 23 Feb 2022

France removed Australia from its list of key partners in the Indo-Pacific region as tensions between the two countries linger five months after the Aukus submarine debacle.

A decision by the government in Canberra to abandon a multibillion-dollar submarine contract with France in favour of American technology and a new security pact with the United States and Britain was viewed by President Emmanuel Macron as a betrayal, and sparked a diplomatic row.

The shift was announced in September without “prior consultation or warning” and “led to a re-evaluation of the past strategic partnership”, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Paris said in the latest version of its official “France’s Indo-Pacific strategy” document.

“France will pursue bilateral cooperation with Australia on case-by-case basis,” it said in the document, which was handed out during a one-day Indo-Pacific summit in Paris on Tuesday.

France, a resident power in the Indo-Pacific, has said a degree of trust has been restored with the US but not with Australia.

Macron has accused Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison of deceiving him about his intentions, an allegation which Morrison’s government denied.