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’

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French President Emmanuel Macron. Photo: Reuters

Published: 5:29pm, 11 Apr 2023Updated: 6:57pm, 11 Apr 2023

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.

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.

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