French President Emmanuel Macron has warned of double standards in condemning conflicts, calling on world leaders to be consistent and form a coalition with a rules-based order in light of the ongoing wars around the world.
During his keynote address at the Shangri-La Dialogue (SLD) on Friday night, Macron took swipes at Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Israel’s hostilities in Gaza and China’s aggression in the disputed waters of the South China Sea, pointing out that the “big risk” was to forget the universal principles that connected all conflicts.
The French president is the first European leader to deliver the keynote speech at the dialogue, widely considered as Asia’s premier defence summit. The dialogue, now in its 22nd edition, is organised by the International Institute for Strategic Studies and has participants from 47 countries including ministers, chiefs of defence forces and prominent academics.
China did not send Defence Minister Dong Jun to the SLD, a departure from its practice in the past three years. Instead, a delegation from the National Defence University is in Singapore to attend the forum, which began on Friday and will last till Sunday.
On the war in Ukraine, Macron said: “If we 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 could happen in Taiwan? What would you do the day something happened in the Philippines?”
