Macron warns US and the Indo-Pacific not to abandon Ukraine at the expense of focusing on China

By Euronews with AP

Published on
31/05/2025 – 1:34 GMT+2

French President Emmanuel Macron warned the US and Indo-Pacific nations on Friday night that they risk a dangerous double standard as they concentrate on a potential conflict with China, if it comes at the cost of abandoning Ukraine. 

Macron’s remarks come as the US considers withdrawing troops from Europe to instead deploy in the Indo-Pacific. He warned abandoning Ukraine would threaten US credibility in deterring potential conflict between China and Taiwan. 

“If you consider that Russia could be allowed to take a part of the territory of Ukraine without any restriction, without any constraint, without any reaction of the global order, how would you phrase what would happen in Taiwan, what would you do the day something happened?” he asked in a speech. 

Macron’s comments were made during his keynote address at Shangri-La Dialogue security conference in Singapore.  

It is the region’s biggest security forum that comes amid concerns of China’s growing assertiveness and the global impact of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. 

Notable was the fact that it the speech was delivered with US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth in the audience.  

Rhetoric between Beijing and Washington is heightening. The US has threatened China with triple-digit tariffs. There is uncertainty in the region over the commitment of the US to Taiwanese security – which also faces possible 32% American tariffs. 

China claims Taiwan as its own. Chinese President Xi Jinping hasn’t ruled out taking it by force. China regularly sends military aircraft and ships near Taiwan and currently has an aircraft carrier southeast of the island. 

The US has been pursuing a “free and open Indo-Pacific policy,” which includes regularly sailing warships through the Taiwan Strait and in the South China Sea.