France won’t be able to escape conflict in Taiwan

The last month or so has been an active time in Chinese-western relations. Early March saw President Xi threaten the US with conflict unless Washington stopped trying to ‘suppress’ his country; shortly afterwards he flew to Moscow to reaffirm his ‘no-limits’ friendship with President Putin. Next, Taiwan’s President Tsai travelled to the US to meet with lawmakers there. In response, Beijing ordered massive military incursions into Taiwan’s sovereign waters, announced that it would be able to inspect Taiwanese shipping, and briefly cut off the island using ships and aircraft in what many took to be a dress-rehearsal for a blockade.

Into this maelstrom strode President Macron of France. Whilst returning from a three-day visit to China, he surprised western leaders by announcing that there was a ‘great risk’ of Europe becoming ‘caught up in crises that are not ours’.