We must be “capable of assuming” a “relation of forces” and France “can have a role to play”, according to François Lecointre, former chief of staff of the armed forces

François Lecointre was the guest of “8h30 franceinfo”, Monday May 6.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, on a two-day visit to France, is not “neither a friend nor a rival, it is a major player in the world who is coming”according to François Lecointre, former chief of staff of the armed forces on franceinfo Monday May 6. “I think what Europeans want is for the world to come to not revolve entirely around a confrontation between China and the United States”specifies the author ofBetween warspublished in April by Gallimard editions.

“Europe and France believe they have a voice to carry in a relationship [entre l’Occident et la Chine] which must be balanced, which must also be a relationship of negotiation and not just a relationship of confrontation”, adds the soldier. “France thinks this all the more so since it is present in the Pacific, in New Caledonia and in Polynesia [notamment]and so she considers, rightly, I think, that she may have a role to play.

However, you also have to know how to show your muscles. France “is in a relationship of power [avec la Chine], in which you must be able to show your determination. Showing your determination means having the means to assert your will.”. He quotes “the plundering of fishery resources [la pêche] of our exclusive economic zones.

The problem is not new. It is “a very old subject” Who “obviously requires that France, in particular, be capable of having a national navy with means of controlling its interests and its resources”which also allow it to “defend them”.