Europe must reduce its dependency on the United States and avoid getting dragged into a confrontation between China and the U.S. over Taiwan, French President Emmanuel Macron said in an interview on his plane back from a three-day state visit to China.
“The paradox would be that, overcome with panic, we believe we are just America’s followers,” Macron said in the interview. “The question Europeans need to answer … is it in our interest to accelerate [a crisis] on Taiwan? No. ”
“If the tensions between the two superpowers heat up … we won’t have the time nor the resources to finance our strategic autonomy and we will become vassals,” he said.
Macron also argued that Europe had increased its dependency on the U.S. for weapons and must now focus on boosting European defense industries. He also suggested Europe should reduce its dependence on the “extraterritoriality of the U.S. dollar”.
US Senator Marco Rubio released a video of over two minutes, in which he repeatedly questioned whether Macron speaks for all of Europe and stated that if Europe is not going to pick sides over the Taiwan question, the US will focus on the "threats China poses" and "you guys handle Ukraine and Europe."
The Taiwan question is entirely China’s internal affair. The one-China principle is a prevailing consensus of the international community and a basic norm in international relations. The biggest threat to peace in the Taiwan Strait is the “Taiwan independence” separatist activities and the US connivance at and support for them. We hope that all countries will see clearly what the Taiwan question is truly about, continue to abide by the one-China principle and firmly oppose all forms of “Taiwan independence” separatist activities.
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