Blinken calls France vital partner in Indo-Pacific
(VOVWORLD) - US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday called France a vital partner in the Indo-Pacific, comments that appeared aimed at calming French anger after the United States, Australia and the UK clinched a deal to supply Australia with submarines.
 US Secretary of State Antony Blinken listens during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, in Washington, U.S., September 14, 2021. (Photo: REUTERS) |
The three countries said on Wednesday they would establish a security partnership for the Indo-Pacific that would help Australia acquire US nuclear-powered submarines and see it scrap a 40 billion USD French-designed submarine deal.
France reacted angrily to the loss of the deal, calling it a "stab in the back.”
Speaking at a news conference after meetings between the US and Australian foreign and defense ministers in Washington, Blinken said Washington wanted to find every opportunity to deepen the transatlantic cooperation in the Indo-Pacific and that France was vital in doing that.
"We cooperate incredibly closely with France on many shared priorities in the Indo-Pacific but also beyond around the world. We're going to continue to do so. We place fundamental value on that relationship, on that partnership," Blinken said.
In 2016, Australia selected French shipbuilder Naval Group to build a new submarine fleet worth 40 billion USD to replace its more than two-decades-old Collins submarines.