French ambassador returning to Australia to ‘redefine terms of relationship’
Paris: France will send its ambassador to Australia back to Canberra following a bitter dispute over a new defence pact that sank a $90 billion submarine construction contract.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, who last month accused the Morrison government of stabbing Paris in the back over the AUKUS deal, made the announcement while being questioned by French MPs on Wednesday afternoon, local time.
France’s ambassador to Australia Jean-Pierre Thebault has been in Paris since the spat.CREDIT:ALEX ELLINGHAUSEN
“I have now asked our ambassador to return to Canberra with two missions: to help redefine the terms of our relationship with Australia in the future ... and to defend our interests in the concrete implementation of the Australian decision to end the program for future submarines,” Le Drian said.
Ambassador Jean-Pierre Thebault was recalled in mid-September amid the fallout from a shock deal for the US and UK to help Australia build a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines.
The deal sank a $90 billion contract between Australia and France for 12 diesel-powered submarines, which Macron had used as a central plank of his strategy to be a major security partner in the increasingly contested Indo-Pacific.
The US has since conceded the AUKUS announcement was poorly handled and France should have been informed sooner.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is currently visiting Paris in a bid to repair the transatlantic relationship. French President Emmanuel Macron is planning to meet US President Joe Biden at the G20 summit in Rome later this month to discuss the spat.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said Macron has refused to take his calls.
Biden’s special envoy John Kerry told French television this week that the President “had not been fully aware” of the impact the AUKUS deal would have on Paris.
“He literally had not been aware of what had transpired,” Kerry said in an interview with French broadcaster BFMTV.
Le Drian said Paris had completely reviewed its bilateral relationship with Australia given the axed submarine deal had been part of France’s broader Indo-Pacific strategy.
Under the new AUKUS deal, Australia will be acquiring nuclear-powered submarines. Here's what you need to know about the powerful new vessels.
“Starting afresh in our bilateral relations will not have any impact in our determination to remain engaged in the Pacific,” he said.
The European Union has postponed talks for a new free trade deal with Australia, delaying the next negotiations until November.
Australian Trade Minister Dan Tehan is in Europe to meet ministers from other advanced economies but has been unable to secure a one-on-one meeting with his French counterpart.
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