France calls off defence meeting with UK over AUKUS pact row, says 'postponed to later'

France on Sunday, 19 September cancelled a high-profile Franco-British defence ministers’ summit scheduled for this week involving Ben Wallace, the UK defence secretary, and French counterpart, Florence Parly over the lucrative multi-billion-dollar trilateral Aukus pact. As the tensions simmered between Paris, and Australia, UK and United States over scrapping of the  £48bn nuclear submarine contract with France, the bilateral meeting due to be held in London by the defence chiefs of both the countries will address the two-day Franco-British Council was abruptly called off, the Guardian newspaper first reported. A former UK national security adviser, and co-chair, Peter Ricketts confirmed reports, saying that the defene summit was “postponed to a later date” as France’s Parly’s planned trip to London was also now stalled. 

British sources, meanwhile, said that the UK was hoping that the meetings would proceed as planned. “We have a strong and close working defense partnership with the French as trusted allies,” the newspaper quoted a source as saying, who referenced the two nations’ mutual counter-terrorism operations in Mali and Iraq as a sign of their mutual cooperation and understanding.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told a press conference, “our French friends” should not worry about the security pact with Australia and the US, adding, “Our love of France is ineradicable.” Furthermore, he told reporters that Britain and France have a “very friendly relationship”.

British PM says ties with France 'absolutely vital for us'

As he headed to United Nations New York, British Prime Minister Johnson was asked if he was a “lap dog” to US President Joe Biden on the plane, to which he responded, “We are very, very proud of our relationship with France and it is of huge importance to this country.” He added, “It is a very friendly relationship – and entente cordiale – that goes back a century or more and it is absolutely vital for us.” Johnson added, “What I would say is that AUKUS is not in any way meant to be zero-sum. It is not meant to be exclusionary, it is not something I don’t think anyone needs to worry about and particularly not our French friends.”

Last week, France recalled its ambassadors to the US and Australia accusing the UK, Australia, and the US of a "stab in the back” after Canberra unilaterally snubbed the £30billion contract that was reached with Paris in 2016 for the supply of 12 diesel-electric submarines. France dubs the agreement as the ‘Indo-Pacific Trafalgar’ pact. In the diplomatic upheaval that followed, irate French President Emmanuel Macron ordered to summon his ambassador to Washington, DC for the first time since the 1790s. Later, the envoy to Australia was also recalled.

India, Australia at centre of Paris' Indo-pacific strategy

The French Foreign Minister on national TV lambasted the trio countries of “lying, duplicity, a major breach of trust and contempt” and humiliating France’s shared vision. Macron's Indo-Pacific strategy described as the “Indo-Pacific axis” has France, India, and Australia at the centre of Indo-pacific strategy to counter the Chinese belligerence, and expansionist threats with regional influence. Australia’s involvement later expanded to Quadrilateral Security Dialogue with the United States, India, and Japan. The Franco-Australian submarine contract with DCNS was signed as France’s Indo-Pacific commitment to ensure the freedom of navigation and rule of law in the Indo-Pacific region. Australia’s ditching of the French nuclear submarine contract for American and British technology for its Collins-class submarine fleet by signing a new trilateral security pact – labelled as AUKUS—has enraged France. 

(IMAGE: AP)