“There has been a lie, there has been duplicity, there is a serious breach of trust”: the French Foreign Minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, said on TV about the submarine crisis with the USA , Australia and Gb. For Le Drian, what happened “will weigh on the future of NATO”. “In a true alliance we talk to each other, we respect each other. This was not the case, ”added the minister. “For the first time in history between the US and France – he continued – we called our ambassador back for consultations. It is a heavy political act that represents the gravity of the crisis between our two countries and with Australia ».
The method of the president of the United States, Joe Biden “is reminiscent of that of President Trump, without the tweets” added Le Drian, to the microphones of France 2, commenting on the crisis opened by the anti-China pact between the US, Australia and Great Britain, sealed from the cancellation of an agreement that had been signed by Canberra for the purchase of French submarines for 66 billion, in favor of American supplies.
Nyt: negotiations on submarines hidden for months in Paris
Despite various high-level meetings in recent months, including the one between Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron in June, when they discussed the future of NATO, the US has never informed Paris of secret negotiations with Australia for the supply of nuclear submarines. that swept away the French one. They did so just hours before the announcement of the new security alliance, which includes Britain. The New York Times writes it, revealing the background of the story. According to the newspaper’s sources, Washington and Canberra feared that the French would go to great lengths to thwart the deal if they perceived it would lead to the loss of one of the largest defense contracts in their history.