Blinken: France aware before AUKUS pact announced

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says France had been informed of the decision the U.S., Britain and Australia were forming a new security alliance that will help equip Australia with nuclear-powered submarines before it was announced on Wednesday, although it was not exactly clear when.

President Joe Biden's decision to form a strategic Indo-Pacific alliance with Australia and Britain to counter China has angered France and the European Union.

They're feeling left out and seeing it as a return to the Trump era.

The security initiative, unveiled this week, appears to have brought Biden's summer of love with Europe to an abrupt end.

AUKUS, which notably excludes France and the European Union, is just the latest in a series of steps, from Afghanistan to east Asia, that have taken Europe aback.

After promising European leaders that "America is back" and that multilateral diplomacy would guide U.S. foreign policy, Biden has alienated numerous allies with a go-it-alone approach on key issues.

France's foreign minister expressed "total incomprehension" at the recent move, which he called a "stab in the back," and the EU's foreign policy chief complained that Europe had not been consulted.

Blinken said Thursday there had been conversations with the French about it within the past 24 to 48 hours, suggesting there had not been an in-depth consultation.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, who in June extolled the "excellent news for all of us that America is back," expressed "total incomprehension" at the announcement of the initiative.

"It was really a stab in the back," he said. "It looks a lot like what Trump did."

France will lose a nearly $100 billion deal to build diesel submarines for Australia under the terms of the new AUKUS initiative, which will see the U.S. and Britain help Canberra construct nuclear-powered ones.

Speaking alongside Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and the Australian defense and foreign ministers, Blinken said there "is no regional divide" with Europe over Indo-Pacific strategy.

"We welcome European countries playing an important role in the Indo-Pacific," he said, calling France a "vital partner."

But how closely they will work together remains to be seen.

IMAGE: AP