The dust had barely settled on the recent EU ambassadors’ conference in Brussels when the European Union had to respond to US President Donald Trump’s announcement of a 25 per cent tariff on steel and aluminium imports, which it denounced. The brewing trade war between the United States and the rest of the world has made an era marked by global power shifts even more volatile.
Advertisement
Some warn of the dangers of a “G-zero” world, when no power or group of powers is willing and able to drive a global agenda and maintain the international order. Others predict that Trump 2.0 will accelerate the West-to-East power shift, with China taking up the mantle of global leadership.
Yet, relations with France have emerged as a cornerstone of China’s ties with the West. France’s leadership in Europe, coupled with its diplomacy, makes its relationship with China critical in shaping the future.
France holds a special fascination for the Chinese and has historically been a key interlocutor between China and the West. Most of all, France has laid the groundwork for a long-standing relationship that blends pragmatism with strategic vision.
The pedigree of independence in French diplomacy can be traced back to president Charles de Gaulle, under whom in 1964 France became the first major Western power to recognise the People’s Republic of China.
Advertisement
It not only reflected France’s desire to assert its independence in a world then dominated by the US-Soviet rivalry, but also heralded a wind of change – leading to China’s admittance into the United Nations in 1971, US president Richard Nixon’s 1972 visit to China that paved the way for Sino-American rapprochement and detente, and China’s integration into the “family of nations”.