France has accused US President Joe Biden of stabbing her in the back and acting like her predecessor Donald Trump on Thursday, excluding Paris from one of the world’s largest defense deals with Australia to build submarines.
The United States, Britain and Australia have said they will establish an Indo-Pacific defense partnership to help Australia acquire US nuclear submarines and cancel the $ 40 billion French-designed submarine deal.
“This unjust, one-sided and unexpected decision reminds me of what Mr. Trump is doing,” said French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian in a statement broadcast on French radio.
“I feel angry and bitter. It doesn’t happen between allies,” he added. Australia selected a French shipbuilding crew in 2016 to build new $ 40 billion submarines to replace the more than 20-year-old Collins class submarines.
The Australian Defense and Foreign Ministers reaffirmed the agreement two weeks ago.
“It stabbed me in the back,” Le Trian said. “We have established a trust relationship with Australia and that trust has been violated.” Biden said Wednesday that France is a “major partner in the Indo-Pacific region.”
Source: Reuters
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