French President Emmanuel Macron asserted that Europe must reduce its dependency on the United States and avoid getting dragged into the China-Taiwan conflict.

French President Emmanuel Macron asserted that Europe must reduce its dependency on the United States and avoid getting involved in the China-Taiwan conflict. The remarks from the French President came during his flight back from China, Politico reported. Earlier this month, Macron was on a three-day visit to China where he met the Chinese President Xi Jinping. From the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war to the France-China bilateral ties, the two world leaders held talks on wide-ranging issues. During his interview with Politico on his way back, the French President stated that the “great risk” Europe is facing is getting caught up in a crisis that doesn’t involve Europe in the first place. 

In the interview, Macron talked about Europe being America’s follower. “The paradox would be that, overcome with panic, we believe we are just America’s followers,” the French President said in an interview. “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,” he added. Just hours after the French President’s flight left from Guangzhou to Paris, China launched a three-day “combat readiness patrols” around Taiwan. The military exercises by the Chinese forces came just days after Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-Wen met the US Speaker of the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy.