China’s leader is gathering autocratic regimes to his banner, Europe and the US are divided over how to respond, and the French president just lobbed a grenade onto the field of international diplomacy
Abroad, too, Macron has gained a reputation for tossing political hand-grenades – intentionally or by accident, who can say? In 2019, he famously declared that Nato was experiencing “brain death”. He could hardly have been more wrong. In 2021-22, he took it upon himself to mediate, ostensibly on Europe’s behalf, with Vladimir Putin over Ukraine.
European autonomy is not such a terrible idea. Trouble is, Europe and the EU – the two are inter-changeable in this context – have consistently failed to live up to pipe dreams of global power. And so, too, has Macron’s France, in respect of offering substantive European leadership. Paris has been notably tight-fisted, for example, over providing, compared with the US, the UK or even tiny, less wealthy countries such as Latvia.
The launch of this new order is being undertaken in close collaboration with Putin – although, as Xi sees it, Russia will play a supporting role, essentially a tame provider of arms, energy and raw materials to. Other, lesser autocracies such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria and some African and Asian regimes are being lined up as founding members. Xi’s target: the current, US-led, UN-endorsed, democratic international rules-based system.
In Macron’s defence, political allies and analysts argue Europe and the US, enmeshed in vital trading, financial and climate relationships with China and highly dependent on the smooth running of global import-export supply chains , mustand the Chinese communist party, however objectionable their military, regional and human rights policies may be.
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