French Foreign Minister Feels Stabbed In The Back About Nuclear Submarines, Australian PM: I Have Explained

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. (Wikimedia Commons/Australian Embassy Jakarta)

JAKARTA - Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday he had explained the possibility of Australia canceling a 2016 submarine order deal with a French company, in talks with the French president in June, dismissing criticism France had not informed him beforehand.

Australia on Thursday said it would scrap a $40 billion deal with French shipbuilder Naval Group to build a fleet of conventional submarines. Instead, it will build at least eight nuclear-powered submarines with US and UK technology upon reaching a trilateral security partnership.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian described the decision as a stab in the back and brutal. On Thursday, PM Morrison said France had been informed of the decision before the announcement, but France denied this.

PPM Morrison on Friday acknowledged the damage to Australia-France relations. But he insisted he told French President Emmanuel Macron in June that Australia had revised its thinking on the deal and might have to make another decision.

"I make it very clear, we had a long dinner in Paris, discussing our concerns about the ability of conventional submarines to deal with the new strategic environment we face", he told 5aa Radio.

"I made it very clear this is an issue that Australia needs to take up in our national interest".

Earlier, the United States, Britain, and Australia said they would establish a security partnership for the Indo-Pacific that would help Australia acquire US nuclear submarines. That scrapped a $40 billion French-designed submarine deal.

"This brutal, unilateral, and unexpected decision reminds me of what Trump used to do", French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told Franceinfo radio.

"I am angry and bitter. This is not done between allies", he stressed.

Two weeks ago, Australia's Minister of Defense and Foreign Affairs had reaffirmed the deal to France. Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron praised decades of cooperation ahead when hosting Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison in June.

"It was a stab in the back. We created a relationship of trust with Australia and that trust has been broken", said Le Drian.

To note, France will take over the presidency of the European Union, which on Thursday released its strategy for the Indo-Pacific, pledging to seek a trade deal with Taiwan and deploying more ships to keep sea routes open.