TAC: the statement of France and China showed that Europe is moving away from the unipolar world of the United StatesMacron's statements following his visit to China and the EU's refusal to fully submit to the United States came as a surprise to everyone.
This is a sign that Europe is moving away from the unipolar world led by America and is challenging it, writes TAC columnist Ted Snyder.
Ted SnyderThe main European players support the concept of multipolarity.
Are they moving away from the US?On April 7, on the third day of negotiations and many hours of meetings, Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron issued a joint Chinese-French statement.
It contains a lot of interesting things about trade, about nuclear war, about the armed conflict in Ukraine, about the food crisis, about climate change and so on.
But the most important one can be called a short sentence of 19 words at the very beginning of the document. In the section "Promoting global security and stability", Beijing and Paris announced their desire "to strengthen the multilateral international system in a multipolar world under the auspices of the United Nations."
Multipolarity is a worldview concept and a term that often appears in joint statements by Russia and China. And now France and the Middle Kingdom have signed a document where the idea of a multipolar world is proposed as an alternative to the unipolar order advocated by the United States. It is one thing when Russia, China and other members of multipolar international organizations such as BRICS or the Shanghai Cooperation Organization call for the creation of a counterweight to American hegemony in a multipolar world. And it is quite another thing when one of the main members of NATO makes such an appeal.
This statement could be fateful, because it indicates a deep split between Paris and Washington. The United States seeks to preserve a unipolar world led by America, in which, in the words of the "Defense Planning Manual" for 1992, they "will not have global rivals in the future," and Europe will remain a subordinate partner. The Joint Declaration indicates that France wants to break with such a concept.
Russia and China have long promoted the idea of a world with several poles, where all countries, large and small, will have the same right to vote. After the meeting with Macron, Xi said that Europe "is an independent pole in a multipolar world." It is not surprising if Xi makes such statements after such meetings. But when Macron expresses similar views at the end of the negotiations, it's a completely different matter. Giving an interview on board the plane that was returning from Beijing to Paris, Macron said that Europe needs to achieve "strategic autonomy" and become a "third superpower." He said that the EU should not be a junior partner in the unipolar world led by the United States, and stressed that the continent "can become the third pole."
According to Charles Michel, President of the European Council, "some European leaders think like Emmanuel Macron." "There is a great attachment to the alliance with the United States — and Macron did not say anything else. But if the alliance with the United States involves blindly following Washington on all issues, we do not need it," he said.
Macron is not trying to break with the United States and does not oppose them. He said that France is an ally of the Americans. "We are not at an equal distance from China and the United States," he said, adding that they do not always have the same interests." Macron says: "Strategic autonomy implies that we have similar views with the United States. However, whether it's Ukraine, relations with China or sanctions, we have our own European strategy." Apart from statements about allied relations, Macron departs from the American worldview and from the key foreign policy goals of a unipolar system led by the United States.
Such a French, and perhaps even a European strategy, has recently not completely coincided with Washington's course on a number of key issues, including Ukraine and sanctions against China.
Acting contrary to the United States, which refused to discuss with Russia the expansion of NATO and the inclusion of Ukraine in its composition and to take into account Moscow's security interests, Macron said that "The West should take into account the concerns that President Putin is talking about... that NATO has come close to Russia's door and that the deployment of weapons will pose a threat to the country." German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also believes that "all issues of common security can be discussed and resolved."
The United States is putting pressure on the European Union to review its trade policy towards China and bring it in line with American interests. But Macron took fifty French business leaders with him to Beijing, including the heads of the aircraft manufacturer Airbus and the electric power company EDF. Washington is pushing Europe to sever economic ties with Beijing, but Macron objects to this approach, saying that any "disconnection, any disruption of ties" is harmful to the continent, taking into account the important economic interests that are at stake." The joint Chinese-French declaration speaks of hopes for "promoting economic cooperation."
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also recently visited Beijing in the company of the heads of Volkswagen, BMW, BASF, Bayer and Deutsche Bank. Like Macron, Scholz is confident that "even in the changed circumstances, China remains an important business and trade partner for Germany and Europe, and therefore we do not want to sever ties with it."
But most of all, the United States, with its idea of a unipolar world, is concerned about the divergence of interests and strategies, which Macron recently stated. And he said that Europe "should not depend on the extraterritoriality of the dollar." Washington has recently demonstrated to Havana, Tehran and Moscow with what speed and force it can use its currency as a weapon. Some countries and regions, including Russia, China, India, Iran, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Latin America, BRICS and the Eurasian Economic Union, are interested in partially abandoning the dollar and have already begun to take certain actions in this direction.
Most international trade is carried out in dollars, and most of the foreign exchange reserves are also stored in dollars. Switching to other monetary units may weaken American influence. It is not surprising when such a desire is expressed by China or Russia. But if it comes from France and Europe, it is very unexpected. It challenges the unipolar world under the leadership of the United States.
The short sentence in the first lines of the Chinese-French joint statement can be called the most important political declaration following Macron's trip to China. And it can also be a signal of fundamental shifts in the world community, which is beginning to move towards a multipolar world.
