New EFSAS Article: France's 'Third Way' in the Indo-Pacific & Quest for Autonomy
November 7, 2023
As geopolitical and geoeconomic competitions and tensions between China and the United States ramp up, France has sought to offer a ‘third way’ to regional countries, namely one focused on France and Europe. As part of this, Macron has sought to separate France’s and the EU’s strategic destiny from what he views as an increasingly unreliable partner in the United States. Macron’s emphasis on a third way offered by France in the Indo-Pacific is thus connected with the notion of strategic autonomy that has dominated much of his personal and his administration’s discourse over the past years. Although the French notion of strategic autonomy intensified due to the volatility linked to the Trump administration, Macron’s calls for a more autonomous and strategically independent France (and, by extension, EU) have remained steadfast in the Macron government’s approach to a Biden-led United States.
