French anger after AUKUS deal ‘not simply about the submarines’

The French government’s anger after the scrapping of a multi-billion dollar order for French submarines is “not simply about the submarines”, according to François Heisbourg, Special Advisor at the Foundation for Strategic Research.

France has recalled its ambassadors from both the United States and Australia after the AUKUS trilateral partnership and subsequent new nuclear submarine deal was announced, in a decision that was slammed by French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian as “duplicity, a major breach of trust and contempt”.

French Ambassador to Australia Jean-Pierre Thebault branded the move a “huge” diplomatic mistake, noting the French submarine deal was more than just a contract, but a partnership.

Mr Heisbourg said the anger from French officials is “about this extraordinary situation, in which three allies decided that a fourth ally would not be drawn into their confidence in terms of tightening alliance relations.

“We are facing the same challenge from China, we are facing the same problems in the South Pacific,” Mr Heisbourg told Sky News host Sharri Markson.

“We have been talking – between France and Australia – for more than a decade in the framework of extraordinarily intimate strategic dialogue.

“The sense of betrayal … this is what explains the French anger above and beyond the submarines.”