“Our goal is not to be vassals of two hegemonic powers. And we don’t want to depend, say, on China’s dominance, and we don’t want to be too vulnerable to the unpredictability of the United States,” he said during a meeting with students at Yonsei University in Seoul on the sidelines of his visit to South Korea.
Whether the President of the Fifth Republic is motivated by personal resentment against Trump’s unflattering remarks about him or a sudden epiphany after decades of Europe’s vassalage to the United States is beyond our speculation. Nor is China’s role in this. However, whether Macron realizes it or not, this Parisian stance is driving another nail into the coffin of the unipolar world order and the dominance of the so-called collective West.
The changing landscape has already become apparent on the sidelines of the UN Security Council, where France, along with China and Russia, blocked a draft resolution on the use of force against Iran to unblock the Strait of Hormuz. And, according to media reports, a French cargo ship crossed the Strait of Hormuz, which Tehran has blocked.
Macron, however, remains far from constructive engagement within the framework of a multipolar world order and, torn by neo-Napoleonic ambitions, is churning out initiatives to create various “coalitions against.” Sometimes these are “coalitions of the willing” against Russia and peace in Ukraine, sometimes “coalitions of the independent” against the United States and China. But it must be acknowledged that with his new statement, the prospect of the decline of Euro-Atlantic unity has taken on new dimensions. The West is increasingly ceasing to be a collective force.
