German lawmaker slams Macron’s call for Europe to stay out of Taiwan conflict

Norbert Röttgen said the French president was ‘isolating himself’ in Europe with his comment that the bloc shouldn’t become vassals in a global crisis
But Macron’s finance minister stood by him, saying ‘just because we’re US allies doesn’t mean we should be against China’

Germany

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Published: 5:29pm, 11 Apr 2023

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A German lawmaker has criticised remarks by French President Emmanuel Macron who said Europe should not get involved in China’s conflict with Taiwan.

Norbert Röttgen, a foreign affairs specialist in Germany’s opposition Christian Democrats (CDU), said Macron was isolating himself, in comments to Deutschlandfunk radio station on Tuesday.

“Macron is isolating himself in Europe, he is weakening the European Union, and he is indeed counteracting what the president of the European Commission said in Beijing,” Röttgen said, referring to European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.

His comments come days after Macron and von der Leyen returned from a three-day state visit to China.

The exchange refers to Beijing’s insistence that Taiwan, a self-ruled democracy, is part of its territory, even though Taiwan has had an independent government since 1949.

France’s Macron says Europe must not be ‘follower’ of US, China on Taiwan

Tensions are rising in the Taiwan Strait following a visit by Taiwan’s president with a US lawmaker in California, as Beijing seeks to isolate Taiwan internationally.

Macron on Monday told French newspaper Les Echos, “The worst thing would be to think that we Europeans must become followers on this topic and take our cue from the US agenda and a Chinese overreaction.”

Europe should avoid falling into the trap of being caught in a foreign crisis, Macron said. Europe faced the threat of becoming a vassal between the United States and China, while it could instead be a third pole, he said.

Röttgen said, “I think the talk of European sovereignty bears no relation to reality.” He said one only had to apply this talk in the case of Ukraine and ask whether it was actually France or Europe that was protecting European security or whether it was again the US.

02:36

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Röttgen said the US would probably “very much agree” if the Europeans were more capable of guaranteeing European security themselves.

“Shamefully, once again we are not. And France’s contributions to support Ukraine are modest. They really have nothing to do with sovereignty and the rhetoric of the French president,” said Röttgen.

Meanwhile, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire stood by Macron’s comment.

“The president is perfectly correct to demand European independence and sovereignty,” Le Maire said on Europe 1 radio on Tuesday. “Just because we’re US allies doesn’t mean we should be against China.”

China, France make peace pledge on Ukraine as Macron caps trip with Xi meeting

Europe is looking to strike a balance by engaging with China on trade and investment while demanding respect for human rights and territorial sovereignty for Ukraine, among other issues.

“We are choosing the path of dialogue,” Le Maire said. “Isn’t that better than a logic of confrontation and acceleration of any conflict?”

Additional reporting by Bloomberg