France immediately redoubled its calls

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Just hours before EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell unveiled the Indo-Pacific strategy On Thursday it was dominated by America, Great Britain and Australia. The three countries announced a landmark pact that would allow cooperation on advanced military technology and allow Canberra to build nuclear-powered submarines.

It was doubly infuriating to the EU camp that Britain on Brexit was the only European ally invited to the head table.

This change of power in Asia-Pacific is a particularly hard blow for France, which now appears to be losing on a multibillion-dollar submarine supply deal with Australia. It is the worst transatlantic explosion since the phone number library Iraq war in 2003, and French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said: “It is a stab in the back. We had established a relationship of trust with Australia, and that trust has been betrayed. “

Unsurprisingly, for Europe to embark on a path of “strategic autonomy” by relying less on American technology and the American army.

The promise of trilateral US-UK-Australia cooperation on anti-China technologies such as artificial intelligence will also sting in Brussels. Later this month, the EU and the US are due to meet in Pittsburgh to discuss precisely one topic: aligning technology standards.

The main problem is that America has shown increasing signs of frustration with the EU’s softer approach to China. Regardless of the mistrust of new US President Joe Biden, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron ran to finalize a landmark investment deal with China at the end of last year. While US diplomats want the Pittsburgh talks to focus on creating tech ecosystems that exclude China, EU officials are working to downplay any anti-Beijing dimensions of tech cooperation.