HANOI: French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Vietnam today for the first leg of a Southeast Asia tour, where he will pitch his country as a reliable alternative partner to the US and China.
During his six-day trip – which includes Indonesia and Singapore – Macron will underscore his respect for the sovereignty of Asian countries “caught between the US and China”, a presidential aide said during a pre-tour briefing.
The French president is due to meet Vietnam’s top leadership tomorrow in the capital Hanoi and key energy sector players on Tuesday.
Macron is hoping to showcase France’s expertise in civil nuclear power in Vietnam and Indonesia, which are keen to embrace this form of energy, although other countries including Russia are also in the running for deals.
France’s willingness “to engage assertively in Indo-Pacific geopolitics offers Vietnam a useful counterweight to China’s growing influence”, said Nguyen Khac Giang, a visiting fellow at Singapore’s Iseas-Yusof Ishak Institute.
In Indonesia, Macron will hold talks with the secretary general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), Kao Kim Hourn, on Wednesday.
Macron’s aide said the president is “defending the idea of international trade rules, we don’t want a jungle where the law of the strongest prevails”.
The aide added that Macron’s message is aimed at both Washington, which is exerting “extremely strong pressure” via US President Donald Trump’s tariffs, and Beijing, which is becoming increasingly aggressive on both trade and territorial disputes, notably in the South China Sea.
Before his departure, Macron held talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping calling for “fair competition” between both countries.
And in Singapore on Friday, Macron will give the opening speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia’s largest forum on security and defence.
He is expected to press that Russia’s war in Ukraine is destabilising Asia by “making North Korean soldiers fight on European soil against Ukrainians and by supporting North Korea’s ballistic and nuclear programmes”, the presidential aide said.
Macron is also keen to counter the view of a European and western “double standard” between the war in Ukraine and the conflict in Gaza.
“We fully understand the sensitivities of Muslim communities in the region,” the aide said, adding that Macron is “particularly committed” to achieving peace in the Middle East.
