US president Joe Biden’s new strategic pact with Australia and the UK not only torpedoed a multibillion-dollar French deal to sell submarines to Canberra, but also came as another brutal wake-up call for the EU and France about their waning influence in the post-cold war world.
The agreement announced on Wednesday has come at an intensely awkward moment for the EU, which on Thursday is set to formally announce its own Indo-Pacific strategy with particular focus on working with regional partners in the interest of security and defence.
As part of the deal, Canberra will procure nuclear-powered submarines as the US and its allies confront an increasingly assertive China. The US, Australia and the UK are already part of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance that also includes Canada and New Zealand.