Britain, France still regard each other as key strategic partners despite AUKUS: Expert
LONDON (AA) – Despite AUKUS, a trilateral security treaty between Australia, the UK, and the US, which made France “furious” when it was announced in 2021, London and Paris still see each other as key strategic partner, according to an international relations expert.
Security, defense, and support to Ukraine as well as English Channel crossings by migrants were among the important agenda items for the UK and France before they sat down on March 10 as part of the first bilateral summit since 2018.
The very short summit in Paris captured global attention as ties between the two strategic partners were passing through hard times after Brexit and the announcement of the AUKUS pact which cost France a submarine contract worth billions of dollars.
Channel crossings in small boats were another key issue between British Premier Rishi Sunak and French President Emmanuel Macron as migration became “a blame game” between the two countries from time to time.
Speaking to Anadolu, Amelia Hadfield, the head of the Politics department of the University of Surrey, said she believed that reacquainting the Lancaster House Treaties is a huge step and result from the summit.
The Lancaster House Treaties are two treaties on defense and security cooperation that were signed in 2010 by then-British Prime Minister David Cameron and then-French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
She said the two sides achieved a majority of their agenda items during the summit, as “they were quite clear on what they wanted to talk about,” added Hadfield, a European and international affairs expert.
Referring to the impact of AUKUS on the ties, she said France was furious when actually the news broke as it is an agreement that does not include them in the Indo-Pacific region, where France “still feels that they have a legitimate toehold.”
“Now happily, Macron and Sunak have agreed also an accompanying amount of naval activity in the Indo-Pacific, so that each side still regards the other as their key strategic partner.”
Have Your Say!
Have you been affected by the issues raised in this story? Please share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@soundvision.com.
Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a Muslim Network TV’s representative. You can also get in touch in the following ways:
Tweet: @MuslimNetworkTV
We must take charge of our narrative. Research indicates that 92% of their Muslim coverage is negative. Help us change that.
