Australia has made a “huge” diplomatic error by ditching a multi-billion-dollar order for French submarines in favour of an option deal with the United States and Britain, France’s envoy to Canberra stated on Saturday.
Australia announced on Thursday it would scrap the 2016 deal with France’s Naval Group to develop a fleet of standard submarines and as an alternative develop at least eight nuclear-powered ones with U.S. and British technologies immediately after striking a trilateral safety partnership.
Australia’s choice has also riled China, the big increasing energy in the Indo-Pacific area, and Malaysia expressed concern on Saturday that Canberra’s choice to develop atomic-powered submarines could trigger a regional nuclear arms race.
“It will provoke other powers to also act more aggressively in the region, especially in the South China Sea,” the Malaysian prime minister’s workplace stated, without having mentioning China.
Beijing’s foreign policy in the area has turn out to be increasingly assertive, especially its maritime claims in the resource-wealthy South China Sea, some of which conflict with Malaysia’s personal claims.
France, a NATO ally of the United States and Britain, has branded the cancellation of the deal – valued at $40 billion in 2016 and reckoned to be worth a great deal more today – a stab in the back and recalled its ambassadors from Washington and Canberra.
“This has been a huge mistake, a very, very bad handling of the partnership – because it wasn’t a contract, it was a partnership that was supposed to be based on trust, mutual understanding and sincerity,” Ambassador Jean-Pierre Thebault told reporters in Canberra ahead of returning to Paris.
“Deep Disappointment’
US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said France was a “crucial ally” and that the United States would work in the coming days to resolve the differences.
Thebault said he was very sad to have to leave Australia but added there “requirements to be some reassessment” of bilateral ties.
In separate comments made to SBS radio, Thebault said of the ditched agreement: “It was not about promoting salads or potatoes, it was a relationship of trust at the highest level covering concerns of the highest level of secrecy and sensitivity.”
Australia said it regretted the recall of the French ambassador, and that it valued the relationship with France and would keep engaging with Paris on other issues.
“Australia understands France’s deep disappointment with our choice, which was taken in accordance with our clear and communicated national safety interests,” a spokesperson for Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne stated on Saturday.
The row in between Paris and Canberra marks the lowest point in their relations due to the fact 1995, when Australia protested France’s choice to resume nuclear testing in the South Pacific and recalled its ambassador for consultations.
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