Washington struggles to soothe Paris over 'stab in the back'

PARIS • The Biden administration is struggling to assuage French anger over Australia's surprise decision to abandon a multibillion-dollar submarine contract with France in favour of US technology, a move viewed in Paris as a betrayal that seriously damaged trans-Atlantic ties.

"We had no heads-up," said Mr Pascal Confavreux, the French embassy spokesman in Washington. "We learnt it when US media broke the news, and at that time we made a demarche to get more information about what we had learnt," he added, referring to a diplomatic meeting often undertaken during a dispute.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian was more blunt, saying his nation, whose friendship with the US dates to the Revolutionary War, felt "stabbed in the back". Officials then promptly cancelled a gala in Washington and Baltimore this week meant to celebrate close Franco-American ties.

The US-UK-Australia pact announced on Wednesday scuppered a 2016 deal that Australia sealed with France to acquire 12 diesel-powered subs from shipbuilder Naval Group.

Officials said it was especially galling because it went against President Joe Biden's repeated insistence that he would work more closely with US allies.

The snub is a personal blow for French President Emmanuel Macron, who hosted Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison at the Elysee palace in June and vaunted their friendship at the Group of Seven meeting in the UK the same month. Mr Le Drian had described the French-Australian submarine contract as the deal of the century.

Speaking at a briefing on Thursday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin sought to reassure French officials about the US commitment to trans-Atlantic ties.

"We strongly welcome European countries playing an important role in the Indo-Pacific," Mr Blinken said. "France in particular is a vital partner on this, on so many other things but also stretching forward into the future."

For some French analysts, the imbroglio was less about bruised egos in Paris and more about Australia's defence fears as China gains strength, and its desire to align more closely with the US, the dominant power in the region.

"Whoever wants to criticise it is going to find ways to criticise it, but I think this obfuscates the bigger story, which is that Australia is getting not just serious but frightened about where the security situation in the region is going," said Ms Nadege Rolland, a senior fellow at the National Bureau of Asian Research and former adviser to France's defence ministry.

BLOOMBERG