Ex-French ambassador takes swipe at Blinken after submarine snub

Former French Ambassador Gérard Araud took a swipe at U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken Thursday after he said France was still a “vital partner” amid the fallout from a new western security alliance.  

Blinken’s comment was an attempt to ease France’s anger after the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom established a nsecurity partnership that excluded France, and scrapped a $40 billion security deal between Australia and France. 

“We are deeply moved…” the former ambassador sarcastically wrote on Twitter after the Agence France-Presse, a French news agency, tweeted Blinken’s statement.

We are deeply moved… https://t.co/Bp539WNSUu

— Gérard Araud (@GerardAraud) September 16, 2021

Blinken later added that the U.S. places “fundamental value on that [U.S./French] relationship, on that partnership,” according to Reuters.

Araud’s comment on the move was not the first. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian also criticized the U.S., saying that President Biden made an “unpredictable decision” like former President Trump “used to do.”

“It’s a stab in the back,” Le Drian said of the new deal. “We created a relationship of trust with Australia and that trust has been broken.”

Biden also tried to calm the situation, stating Wednesday that France was a “key partner in the Indo-Pacific.”