Macron on Asia tour to pitch France amid US-China rivalry
PARIS—French President Emmanuel Macron will travel to Southeast Asia to pitch France and Europe as reliable partners with “no strings attached,” as the United States and China use more aggressive ways to gain influence in the region, officials said.
He is following after his counterparts from 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.
Rules-based trade
Macron is set to arrive in Hanoi on Sunday, the first trip to Vietnam by a French president in nearly a decade, then move on to Indonesia and finish up in Singapore, where he will speak at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia’s top defense conference.
He will present France and Europe as defenders of international cooperation and rules-based trade, at a time when other world powers, such as the United States under President Donald Trump and China use more “coercive” or “predatory” methods.
“As far as we’re concerned, we defend the idea of rules for international trade, we don’t advocate for the law of the jungle, where it’s about survival of the fittest,” a French presidential adviser said on Wednesday.
Deals being prepared
Export-reliant Vietnam was caught off guard by the threat of high tariffs from the United States and France, and is keen to diversify its supply sources and markets to rely less on China.
Dozens of deals were being prepared and could be signed during the three state visits, the Elysee told Reuters earlier.
Macron will also use a speech to Indonesian students and the Singapore conference to dispel “misunderstandings” about the European position on conflicts beyond the region, denying any double standards on Gaza and framing Ukraine as being not solely a European issue.
