After spending around six hours with Chinese President Xi Jinping as part of a three-day state visit to China, Macron made extremely clear that France wants nothing to do with WWIII, emphasizing that Europe must employ "strategic autonomy," presumably led by France, to become a "third superpower," according to Politico.
While speaking with reporters aboard COTAM Unité, France's Air Force One, the French President said that the "great risk" facing Europe right now is that it "gets caught up in crises that are not ours, which prevents it from building its strategic autonomy."
This isn't the first time Macron has suggested reducing dependence on the US. In November, the French President called for a "single global order" while discussing the power interests of Russia and China and the threat of war.
"We are in a jungle and we have two big elephants trying to become more and more nervous. If they become very nervous and start a war, it will be a big problem for the rest of the jungle. You need the cooperation of a lot of other animals, tigers, monkeys and so on."
Comment: Of all Western leaders, Macron has the best grasp of what's going on geopolitically. He also spoke at a Chinese University, and was generally treated as a star in Beijing over the course of the full state visit. One wonders what else was said outside the formal 6-hour meeting with Xi.
So, did Macron only go to China as part of a Western reaction to Xi's visit to Moscow, in order to 'warn' China not to become involved in Ukraine', or was his talk of Europe becoming 'another pole' a hint that he and his French backers are embracing multipolarity?
By the way, the last French president to criticize US dollar dominance, and pull France out of NATO in 1965, was ousted in a 'colour revolution' of sorts. This makes us wonder whether the anti-Macron protests in France right now are being, at least in part, fueled from the US - like the Israeli protest movement against Netanyahu...
See also: Macron refuses to back US line on China