French President Emmanuel Macron said over the weekend that Europe should embrace an approach of “strategic autonomy” when it comes to tensions between the United States and China.
The French president said that by allying too closely with the U.S., Europe risks being dragged into conflicts and crises in which it does not have a significant interest. “Strategic autonomy,” as Macron calls it, is his plan to lead Europe into becoming a “third superpower,” according to POLITICO.
“The paradox would be that, overcome with panic, we believe we are just America’s followers,” Macron said on Sunday. “The question Europeans need to answer … is it in our interest to accelerate [a crisis] on Taiwan? No. The worse thing would be to think that we Europeans must become followers on this topic and take our cue from the U.S. agenda and a Chinese overreaction.”
Macron’s theory of “strategic autonomy” has found widespread support in Beijing, where top officials in the…