French diplomat says Macron makes no apology for interview, calls Trump’s comments ‘vile’

PARIS - French President Emmanuel Macron makes no apology for comments he made in an interview he gave in China, a senior French diplomat told reporters on Wednesday.

In the interview at the end of his visit last week, Mr Macron called on the European Union to

reduce on dependence on the United States

and cautioned against being drawn into a crisis over Taiwan driven by an “American rhythm and a Chinese overreaction”.

The interview, with news outlet Politico and French daily Les Echos, prompted a backlash in Europe and the US.

The substance of what Mr Macron said, which focused on his pet project of European strategic autonomy, was clear, and his position on Taiwan and China has not changed, the diplomat added.

Former US president Donald Trump accused the French President of pandering to China leader Xi Jinping during his visit to Beijing.

Trump,

who seeks to regain the White House in 2024

, forged an adversarial relationship with China during his presidency, even as he called Mr Xi his “very good friend”.

Trump in a television interview derided Democratic President Joe Biden’s foreign policy as having emboldened Russia, North Korea and China and sidelined the US as a world leader – criticism that was often levelled at his own administration.

“You got this crazy world is blowing up and the United States has absolutely no say. And Macron, who’s a friend of mine, is over with China kissing his ass,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News late on Tuesday.

A senior French diplomat on Wednesday responded to Trump’s comments, telling reporters: “They are vile.”

The diplomat pointed to Trump’s own comments during a November 2017 visit to Beijing, when he said “I don’t blame China” for the trade deficit.

As president, Trump upended some tenets of America’s post-World War II foreign policy by questioning the Nato alliance, alienating European partners and indulging autocrats.

Trump himself was accused of pandering to world leaders, autocrats in particular, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

He had praised Mr Putin and was famously accused by his 2016 Democratic presidential opponent Hillary Clinton of being “Putin’s puppet”.

He held a summit with Mr Kim in 2018 and declared at a rally with supporters that “we fell in love” after exchanging letters. REUTERS