"Political
scientist Gintas Karalius says that in the Lithuanian public space there is a
one-sided negative evaluation of the statements of French President Emmanuel
Macron, although the situation is much more complicated. Speaking on Radio
News, the political scientist agreed that the French President made a couple of
mistakes, but he pointed out that the approval of his ideas E. Macron has.
When the
President of France expressed the opinion that Europe should not take an
example from the United States regarding Taiwan, because in this way the bloc
would risk getting involved in crises that are not its own, the discussions in
the Community boiled up.
News Radio says
that while some countries are trying to reduce their dependence on the giant as
much as possible in response to China's teetering on the brink of war against
Taiwan, others continue to increase it.
Part of the
countries were outraged by E. Macron's desire for an autonomous Europe,
retreating from the US position. For Eastern Europe, such actions would mean
alienation from the most important ally.
"Instead of
creating strategic autonomy from the United States, I propose to create a
strategic partnership with the United States," Politico quoted the Polish
premier as saying, calling him an anti-Macron figure.
I suggest reading
Le Pen's interview
Gintas Karalius,
a lecturer at the Institute of International Relations and Political Sciences
of Vilnius University, pointed out in the Radio News program "Gyvenu
Europoje" that E. Macron is the President and politician in France who is
the most in favor of maintaining transatlantic relations at the moment.
"If you look
at what the alternatives to E. Macron say... Two days ago there was an
interview with M. Le Pen, what she said about NATO, about V. Putin and everyone
else, then we would see that there is little choice," - the political
scientist spoke.
He agreed that E.
Macron's speech was sharp, but emphasized that he has been trying to make the
idea of strategic autonomy a part of the European agenda since 2017.
"This is
Europe's ability to formulate its interests and to have the ability to do so
independently of those around it: the USA, Russia, China, Turkey can be
counted. Last week when he was in Holland, he talked about economic independence,
technological things, that, in short, Europeans should support their companies
and their technology, otherwise you will be dependent," he described
Macron's idea.
G. Karalius said
that one of its elements is war.
The political
expert reminded that the French regatta passed through the Taiwan Strait a few
days ago, thus demonstrating that it is a channel of free navigation.
"We see that
China is not giving up that space," he said.
In Lithuania, the
coverage is biased
The political
scientist said that despite this, Mr. Macron's words caused a great impact.
In the opinion of
the G. Karalius of the News Radio, the coverage of all this in the Lithuanian
space is quite biased, it is said that we choose several sources that are most
against E. Macron, although in reality everything is much more complicated.
According to him,
there is a lot of support for Macron's words in southern Europe.
According to him,
for example, the Prime Minister of Italy, who herself will go to China to sign
contracts, said in an interview that military security is not given for
nothing, that if you pay for it not with money, then you pay for it with
obedience, and that is why Europe's strategic autonomy is a necessary thing.
"This is a
repeated idea of E. Macron, but somehow we did not have an echo in
Lithuania," he pointed out.
According to the
TSPMI lecturer, the Spanish Prime Minister was also in China recently, German
Chancellor O. Scholtz also visited here a couple of months ago, who, like the
Spanish Prime Minister, signed a number of trade agreements.
"There is
much more support for E. Macron's ideas than it sounds now, but we don't hear
all of them," he assured.
According to G.
Karalius, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki spoke completely differently
a year ago, and Polish President Andrzej Duda even went to the Winter Olympics
in China and was heavily criticized for that.
"There are
more complicated things. In Lithuania, we hear only one narrative, that E.
Macron is bad, a couple of months ago the Germans were bad (…) We can play with
those moralizations. The reality is that strategic autonomy is an elusive thing
that encompasses technological, economic, military relationships. And E. Macron
is trying to say that if we are allies, it does not mean that we are
vassals", said the G. Karalius of Žinių Radijas.
According to him,
it is interesting that last year the trade dependence of the USA on China only
increased even more, while the volume of France is ten times smaller.
"This is how
the global economy works. In rhetoric, there is almost a war, but in reality
there is economic and technological cooperation, because otherwise all our factories
will close, and we will have to go home. The situation is more
complicated, although we like to divide the good guys and the bad guys with
political narratives," he said.
China - this is
not Russia
Mr. King pointed
out that the USA, Spain, Italy - all do the same, only the rhetoric is different.
"Global
technology and trade networks cannot function without China. China - this is
not Russia, which does not produce anything, only pumps oil - you can close the
pipe and distance yourself (if you don't care about shooting up food, fertilizer and energy prices, economical and political world crisis induced by fight with this inflation (K.)). China is the world's factory, without which the
entire world economy will grind to a halt. That termination... At best, we can
talk about diversification, about reducing dependence. But even in the US,
despite the rhetoric, it's hard to do that," he said.
The biggest
controversy, according to him, arose from the fact that Mr. Macron, speaking
about Taiwan, stated that it is the product of a conflict between two
geopolitical players, China and the United States.
"Approximately, the US is as much to blame as China, and Europe is
somehow left behind. It was a completely unnecessary statement, it was
misunderstood by both the Chinese leader and Taiwan, which is waiting for
clarity, whether Europe is with him, and the United States, where they really
reacted angrily," he said.
Another mistake,
according to him, was Mr. Macron's usual desire to speak on behalf of the whole
of Europe, which greatly annoys the Germans and other Europeans.
However, the
political scientist pointed out that, despite these mistakes, E. Macron said
serious things.
According to him, in terms of strategic
autonomy, it is estimated that in 2027, China will be fully prepared to take
back Taiwan by arms. Until then, the US will devote resources and attention to
that region.
"So, one way
or another, Europe will remain without the USA in a military sense, Europe will
remain autonomous whether we like it or not. Therefore, maybe something needs
to be done. The issue here is serious and not about whether we love the USA or
not, it's just that America will be much less here, we need to prepare for
that," said the political scientist."
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