PARIS (AP) \u2014 France canceled meetings with British and Australian officials and is trying to rally EU allies behind its push for more European sovereignty after being humiliated by major Pacific defense pact orchestrated by the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Australia and Britain insisted Monday that the diplomatic crisis wouldn\u2019t affect their longer-term relations with France, which is seething over a surprise, strategic submarine deal involving the U.S., Australia and Britain that sank a rival French submarine contract.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
France recalled its ambassadors to the U.S. and Australia for the first time because of the deal, and its anger is showing few signs of subsiding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, in New York to represent France at the U.N. General Assembly, is expected to give a news conference Monday to address the situation. He\u2019s also meeting with foreign ministers from the other 26 European Union nations in New York, where he will discuss the consequences of the submarine deal and France\u2019s vision for a more strategically independent Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not just a Franco-Australian affair, but a rupture of trust in alliances,\u201d Le Drian was quoted as saying in the French newspaper Ouest-France. \u201cIt calls for serious reflection about the very concept of what we do with alliances.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Le Drian said he canceled a meeting with his Australian counterpart in New York \u201cfor obvious reasons.\u201d They had been scheduled to meet with the Indian foreign minister, but instead it will be a France-India meeting alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Le Drian said he has no meeting scheduled with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken while he\u2019s at the U.N., but might \u201cpass him in the hallways.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While U.S. President Joe Biden is hosting the Australian and British leaders this week, he won\u2019t see French President Emmanuel Macron, who\u2019s not traveling to the U.N. Macron is staying in France and is expected to talk with Biden in the coming days about the submarine crisis, according to the French government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The submarine deal, known as AUKUS, will see Australia cancel a contract to buy diesel-electric French submarines and instead acquire nuclear-powered vessels from the U.S. The U.S., Australia and Britain say the deal bolsters their commitment to the Indo-Pacific region, and has widely been seen as a move to counter an increasingly assertive China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The French government appears to have been blindsided by the agreement, and feels its own strategic interests in the Pacific \u2014 thanks to its territories and military presence there \u2014 were ignored by major allies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
France\u2019s defense minister canceled a meeting with her British counterpart this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, meanwhile, insisted that Britain\u2019s relationship with France is \u201cineradicable.\u201d Speaking on his way to New York, he said, \u201cAUKUS is not in any way meant to be zero-sum, it\u2019s not meant to be exclusionary. It\u2019s not something that anybody needs to worry about and particularly not our French friends.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
British officials have stressed the close military ties between the U.K. and France, including joint operations in Mali and Estonia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Australia, officials said France\u2019s anger wouldn\u2019t derail negotiations on an Australia-European Union free trade deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French Ambassador to Australia Jean-Pierre Thebault denied media reports that France was lobbying the EU not to sign the trade deal with Australia that has been under negotiation since 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Australian Trade Minister Dan Tehan said he would travel to Paris within weeks for trade negotiations and was \u201cvery keen to touch base with my French counterpart.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI see no reason why those discussions won\u2019t continue,\u201d Tehan said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The European Commission, the EU\u2019s executive branch, said Monday they\u2019re analyzing the impact of the Australian submarine agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Australia argues that the submarine deal was about protecting its strategic interests amid broad concern about China\u2019s growing assertiveness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI can understand how the French are upset and we obviously want this to pass and to us to work closely again. But let\u2019s remember, tens of thousands of Australians died on French soil over two World Wars protecting France in France, and protecting France from the enemy that was going to invade France,\u201d said Australian Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
___<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rod McGuirk in Canberra and Jill Lawless in London contributed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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