Former Australian Prime Minister Rudd said the submarine snob was part of a larger national agenda

Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has criticized the ongoing submarine dispute with France. In an interview with RFI’s Australian correspondent, he said he believed the crisis was generated as part of a national political agenda.

He also said he believed current Prime Minister Scott Morrison also viewed Australia’s relationship with France as lasting.

That, he said, will likely be a mistake in the long run, as the decision to cancel the existing nuclear deal and make a different deal with the US and UK assumed that when it s ‘would act to maintain the submarines, the United States would. .

However, he warned that Australia and the United States would not always agree on all sorts of political issues, so it is likely that this decision will come back to haunt Australia in the future.

Repair trust
Meanwhile, top diplomats from France and the United States said on Thursday that mending the ties would take time as Paris demanded action to allay its anger over the cancellation of a huge sub-contract. sailors.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, after days of indifference, met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly with Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the worst crisis in allied relations since the war in Iraq.

France’s top diplomat told Blinken that US President Joe Biden’s phone conversation a day earlier with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron was the start of a process of rebuilding confidence.

“He recalled that a first step had been taken with the appeal between the two presidents but stressed that the resolution of the crisis between our two countries would take time and would require action”, indicates a statement from the French Ministry of Affairs. foreigners.

France was furious when Australia last week canceled a multibillion-dollar contract for French submarines, deciding instead that it needed US nuclear versions amid mounting tensions with China.

Stab in the back, betrayal
Le Drian accused Australia of stabbing in the back and the United States of treason, calling the move reminiscent of the one-sided attitude of Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump.

Blinken, a francophone who grew up partly in Paris, appeared remorseful as he addressed reporters later in the day after the hour-long closed-door meeting at the French United Nations mission.

The French naval group said it would soon send an itemized invoice to Australia for the contract cancellation.

Australia only became the second nation after Britain to access U.S. nuclear submarine technology and announced a new

alliance with Washington and London.
Blinken has vowed to work closely with France in the US strategy toward the Indo-Pacific, seen by the Biden administration as the top priority amid China’s growing assertiveness.

Other European countries, including Germany, have expressed solidarity with France, saying the US move goes against Biden’s pressure for closer relations with his allies.