Taiwan
The People’s Republic of China (PRC) appears to be making good on its threat of retaliation against the island nation of Taiwan by carrying out three days of military invasion rehearsals around the island nation upon the return of that country’s president from a visit to the United States. This retaliatory show of force by the Chinese navy* comes as promised retribution for U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy visiting with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen at the Ronald Reagan Library in California last Wednesday, April 5.
While Beijing objected to the high level meeting in the U.S., it is worth pointing out, former Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou was on an historic 12-day visit to mainland China. President Ma favored closer, friendlier relations with the mainland.
Meanwhile, French President Emanuel Macron was seen kowtowing before mainland China’s dictator Xi Jinping in an effort to ensure continued access to the Chinese market for French multinational corporations. Macron also reveled in the opportunity to enjoy an adoring crowd custom-ordered by the Chinese state’s authorities at a university in Guangzhou for the occasion, marking the dictatorship’s approval of Macron’s deferential tone.
According to the Singapore Straits Times: “His Elysee Palace office said the talks had been ‘dense and frank’”. I’m guessing Macron played the role of “dense”.
Skeptical China watchers are less than impressed. While Macron was officially celebrated for talking up friendship in ways that mirrored the host country’s talking points, EU President Ursula von der Leyen’s visit was aggressively ignored, since she had come to criticize China’s threats toward Taiwan and its axis of dictatorships with Russia.
The Chinese leadership was exceptionally eager to offer business deals to the beleaguered Macron, who also brought with him representatives of French industry.
The French leader is accompanied by more than 50 French business leaders, including the top bosses of Airbus, EDF and Veolia.
Airbus announced Thursday it would open a second final assembly line in China that will double its production capacity in the country, with the framework for the deal signed by CEO Guillaume Faury in Beijing.
The firm said Friday that it had agreed to sell 50 helicopters to the Chinese leasing firm GDAT.
A similar approach appealed to the mercantilist spirit of German industrialists when that country’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited China last November.
The EU, meantime, risks splintering further, as the Eastern Europeans, who are worried about the bellicose Russian menace at their borders, continue to feel ignored and insulted by their richer western neighbors so willing to sing from the Kremlin’s favorite hymnals about peace deals recognizing Russia as some sort of peace empire whose invasions of sovereign states are presumably to be welcomed by everyone from the invaded peoples to every last person on earth.
As to French president’s insights, per the Straits Times,
Taiwan was just one area that risked “an acceleration of tensions breaking out between the duopoly” of China and the US, Mr Macron said.
If the confrontation escalates too quickly, Europeans “won’t have the time or the resources to finance our strategic autonomy and will become vassals, whereas we can build a third pole if we have a few years,” he added.
Europe’s emergence as an independent geostrategic player has been a goal of Mr Macron’s for years, in line with a tradition going back to Fifth Republic founding president Charles de Gaulle who saw France as a balancing power between the Cold War blocs.
It’s hard to imagine the envisioned third way for a country that has recently withdrawn its peacekeeping forces from former African colonies to make room for the ruthless mercenaries of Russia’s PMC Wagner Group. But if your foreign policy is based on idealistic castles in the sky, maybe it’s easy to imagine.
*The Chinese military are called the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), and the PLA own the navy, traditionally called the PLA navy. The Chinese military do not technically work for the Chinese state, but instead for the Chinese Communist Party.
"According to the Singapore Straits Times: “His Elysee Palace office said the talks had been ‘dense and frank’”. I’m guessing Macron played the role of “dense”."
Well, done!!
It is AMAZE-BALLS how much the Western world still wants to wear blinders when dealing with China. Undoubtedly, we'll rue the day. . .
In fairness to Macron, he's had a rough time of it lately. It must be nice to get in front of a large crowd that *isn't* calling for his head (figuratively or literally - the French have a certain reputation, after all) for a change. I'll admit I also like any development that reminds the EU that they aren't as politically unified as Brussels would have them believe.
Also, good for Taiwan, to play both sides of the fence and keep the two Great Powers guessing. In the end, Taiwan needs to be for Taiwan, and I don't fault the island nation for dancing with multiple partners. We may offer a long-term advantage with our regional allies, but in the short term, should China decided to force its suit tomorrow, there is little we could do about it. Playing the coquette is the best way to avoid that, I think, for now.