Emmanuel Macron, the President of France, stated this past weekend that Europe should now be looking to embrace a mindset of "strategic autonomy" when it comes to tensions between China and the United States.
The president of France stated that by standing too closely with the U.S., Europe could run the risk of being pulled into any conflicts and crises in which it does not hold any specific or particular interest. "Strategic autonomy," as it has been labeled by Macron, is his plan to try and turn Europe into the world's "third superpower," as reported by POLITICO.
"The paradox would be that, overcome with panic, we believe we are just America’s followers," stated Macron this past 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."
This theory of "strategic autonomy" from Macron has found a shocking level of widespread support in Beijing, where a number of high-end officials within the Chinese Communist Party have chosen to endorse the concept and often encourage other European nations to embrace it as well.
The comments from the president have been made public after he paid a visit to Beijing this past week and spent close to six hours sitting alongside Chinese President Xi Jinping discussing the possibility of peace when it comes to the war between Ukraine and Russia. Macron's visit seems to have had very little impact on that event.
Macron is seeking to push China into leaning on Russia to negotiate a true end to the war that has crashed through and ravaged Ukraine for well over a year.
"China is willing to jointly appeal with France to the international community to remain rational and calm," stated Xi as part of a joint press release with Macron.
"Peace talks should be resumed as soon as possible, taking into account the reasonable security concerns of all sides with reference to the U.N. Charter … seeking political resolution and constructing a balanced, effective and sustainable European security framework," he stated.
The visit to China from Macron has seemingly worked against U.S. interests in "decoupling" China from the West. The U.S. has ended up becoming ever increasingly at odds with China over the past few years due to complaints regarding restrictive trade practices and China’s territorial aggression.