Macron Pitches France as Reliable Trade and Defence Partner on Vietnam Visit
Asia / Pacific
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that Paris would engage in closer cooperation with Vietnam on defence, satellites and railways, as he met his Vietnamese counterpart in Hanoi on the first stop of his Southeast Asia tour.
By: FRANCE 24 / FRANCE 24
French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Vietnam on Sunday for the first leg of a Southeast Asia tour, where he is expected to continue pitching his country as a reliable alternative partner to the United States and China. Macron said that Paris would engage in closer cooperation with Vietnam on defence, satellites and railways.
During a press statement alongside his Vietnamese counterpart Luong Cuong in Hanoi, Macron said a rules-based order was necessary at “a time of both great imbalance and a return to power-driven rhetoric”.
Macron’s first formal visit to Vietnam, the first by a French president in nearly a decade, follows US President Donald Trump’s threats on Friday of 50 percent duties on EU goods from June that sharply fuelled tension with the 27-nation bloc.
Deals signed during Macron’s visit covered the plane purchase, cooperation on nuclear energy, railways, Airbus earth-observation satellites and Sanofi vaccines, a list of documents seen by Reuters showed, confirming an earlier report.
In statements to the press with no questions allowed, Macron reiterated France’s support of freedom of navigation, an issue dear to Vietnam as it often clashes with Beijing over contested boundaries in the South China Sea.
Defence partnership
Macron added the partnership with Vietnam “entails a reinforced defence cooperation”, citing the signing of multiple projects on defence and space.
Vietnam’s President Luong Cuong said the defence partnership involved “sharing of information on strategic matters” and stronger cooperation in the defence industry, cybersecurity and anti-terrorism.
France ruled the Southeast Asian country for about 70 years until it was forced out in 1954 after a major defeat at Dien Bien Phu in northern Vietnam. Ties have improved in recent decades, being upgraded last year to Vietnam’s highest level.
On his trip, the first leg of a Southeast Asian tour that includes Indonesia and Singapore, Macron will visit a university in Hanoi on Tuesday, before flying to Jakarta, the Indonesian capital.
The deal with European planemaker Airbus for Vietnam’s low-cost airline VietJet to buy 20 A330neo wide-body aircraft follows last year’s agreement for 20 of the jets.
The signing followed urging by European officials in recent weeks for Vietnam to be careful in concessions made to the White House, two officials based in Vietnam with knowledge of the discussions had told Reuters, referring to concerns on Airbus.
Airbus is the main supplier of jets to Vietnam, contributing 86 percent of its fleet, data from aviation analytics firm Cirium shows.
A separate agreement with Airbus Defence was also signed during the visit for cooperation with Vietnam on earth-observations satellites.
(FRANCE 24 with Reuters and AFP)
