Macron warns US, Indo-Pacific not to abandon Ukraine

SINGAPORE (AP):

French President Emmanuel Macron warned the US and a large audience of Indo-Pacific nations Friday night that they risk a dangerous double standard as they concentrate on a potential conflict with China if that shift comes at the cost of abandoning Ukraine.

Macron’s remarks come as the US is considering withdrawing troops from Europe to shift them to the Indo-Pacific. He warned that abandoning Ukraine would eventually erode US credibility in deterring any potential conflict with China over Taiwan.

In a speech that emphasised France’s tight ties to the Indo-Pacific, Macron said that any shifts to developing a more hard-line deterrent stance in the region is still tied to how the world — and particularly the West — treats other critical issues, including climate change and Israel’s ongoing military operations in Gaza.

The speech was notable in that Macron delivered it with US President Donald Trump’s Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in the audience and as not only France, but countries around the globe are dealing with Trump’s fluctuating tariff threats. Both Europe and those same Indo-Pacific nations also find themselves increasingly pulled between the competing interests of Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

“We want to cooperate. But we don’t want to be instructed on a daily basis what is allowed, what is not allowed and how our life will change because of the decision of a single person,” Macron said, in an apparent jab at Trump that could have also been just as easily pointed at Xi.

Macron and Hegseth are among the world leaders, diplomats and top defense officials in Singapore this weekend for a security forum that will focus on China’s growing assertiveness, the global impact of Russia’s war on Ukraine and the flare-up of conflicts in Asia.

It’s Hegseth’s first time at the Shangri-La Dialogue, hosted by the International Institute for Security Studies, which is taking place against the backdrop of heightened rhetoric between Beijing and Washington. The Trump administration has threatened China with triple-digit tariffs, and there’s some uncertainty in the region over how committed the US is to the defense of Taiwan, which also faces possible 32 per cent American tariffs.

China claims the self-governing democracy as its own, and Chinese President Xi Jinping has not ruled out taking it by force. China sends military aircraft, ships and spy balloons near Taiwan as part of a campaign of daily harassment, and currently has an aircraft carrier in the waters southeast of the island.

China, which usually sends its defense minister to the Shangri-La forum, sent a much lower level delegation instead, led by Major General Hu Gangfeng, the vice president of the People’s Liberation Army National Defense University. The delegation was expected to speak Saturday on a panel on “cooperative maritime security” alongside representatives from Japan, Vietnam, Chile and the UK. — notable in that China’s aggressive global fisheries tactics have been a regular topic of concern not only in the Indo-Pacific but as far away as Latin America and the Arctic.

Defense officials traveling with Hegseth, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, called the absence of a higher-level Chinese delegation an opportunity for the US to make inroads.

“We can’t account for whether China engages or not. All we know is that we’re here. And we will be here,” Hegseth said as he met with Philippine Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro.