France had recalled its ambassadors to the United States and Australia “for consultations” on September 17, after the announcement of the cancellation by Australia a record contract for the purchase of submarines from France.
Posted
Update
Reading time : 1 min.
A sign of appeasement. The French ambassador to Australia, who had been recalled to Paris after the cancellation of a record contract for French submarines, will return to Canberra, French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le announced Wednesday (October 6th). Drian.
“I have now asked our Ambassador to return to Canberra with two missions: to help redefine the terms of our relationship with Australia in the future. (…) and firmly defend our interests in the concrete implementation of Australia’s decision to end the future submarine program “, said Jean-Yves Le Drian during a hearing at the National Assembly.
Philippe Etienne, French Ambassador to the United States, and his counterpart in Australia, Jean-Pierre Thébault, were recalled to Paris by the Quai d’Orsay on September 17. “This exceptional decision [prise par Emmanuel Macron] is justified by the exceptional gravity of the announcements made on September 15 by Australia and the United States “, had then justified the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Philippe Etienne has returned to Washington since September 29. He had spoken there the next day with Joe Biden’s adviser for national security, Jake Sullivan, then with the head of American diplomacy, Antony Blinken.