Australia and France signed an agreement providing mutual access to their military bases on December 4, 2023.[1] The agreement basically gives Australian soldiers greater access to France’s military bases in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, and also provides France with easier access to Australian facilities. Speaking after her meeting with Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong in Canberra, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said, “The Indo-Pacific is a top priority for France. We are a Pacific country. “We are determined to strengthen our cooperation with our partners in the region.” [2]
Two countries have laid out the road map for cooperation in the fields of defence, climate, education and culture. This includes intelligence sharing. The parties decided to open a new page in bilateral relations.
As a reminder, in 2021, Australia decided to purchase nuclear submarines within the scope of AUKUS, a triple security partnership with the USA and England. Thus, he canceled the billion-dollar submarine contract with France. This caused diplomatic tension between the parties, and the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian, harshly criticized Australia, saying “we were stabbed in the back.” [3]
In the last two years, France has tried to repair its relations with Australia, on the one hand, and on the other hand, it has tried to establish alternative cooperation with allies such as India. The main thing that disappointed Paris in this process is that the USA did not inform France in advance that they would make such an agreement with Australia. After learning about AUKUS, France withdrew its Ambassador to Washington. US President Joe Biden admitted that they made a mistake by not notifying France about this agreement in advance and that they handled this agreement in an “incompetent” manner. [4]
Australia is trying to compensate for the rupture in bilateral relations that occurred 2 years ago by signing a new agreement with France. On this issue, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said, “France is a power in the Pacific, a power in Europe and a multilateral power. So this is a very important partnership for Australia.”
The road map announced on December 4, 2023 was interpreted as a reset of bilateral relations. For example, Wong said, “This is a very important step. “I think Catherine described it as a reset of relationships.” [5] Agreeing with this idea, Colonna said, “Our mission was to rebuild, reset, to use the appropriate word. “I don’t know which one you would prefer.”
It was not only the USA but also Australia that disappointed France at that time. French President Emmanuel Macron implied that then Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison lied to him.[6] Morrison denied this claim at the time, but said that secrecy was necessary considering that France would possibly try to prevent the AUKUS agreement. Morrison commented, “Not telling him is not the same as lying to him.”[7]
French Foreign Minister Colonna emphasized the need for stability in the Indo-Pacific region, saying that the world “does not need a new crisis.” It seems that France has decided to put aside all the negativities in the past and turn a new page with Australia. It can be said that a crisis of trust has emerged between the parties in the last two years. It will take time for France, in particular, to trust Australia again. Because the negotiations of the AUKUS agreement were apparently carried out in complete secrecy. Neither the USA nor the UK nor Australia informed their allies about this process. This is equivalent to that Anglo-Saxon powers pushing France out in the power struggle in the Asia-Pacific.
In order to repair relations with France, the USA announced that they could cooperate with Paris and Brussels in the Blue Pacific Partnership, which was published in June 2022. In other words, the USA tried to show that it was in favor of greater cooperation with France in the Indo-Pacific. France cooperates with the USA towards the goal of “Free and Open Indo-Pacific”. However, the two countries differ from each other in their China strategy. Due to this difference of opinion, the USA and the UK turned to a defense partnership with Australia, excluding France in the Indo-Pacific, and signed AUKUS.
France continues to express its discomfort with this defense alliance targeting China. In this context, Paris argues that Australia is provoking China through defense alliances. Because France is against provocative moves in the Indo-Pacific and differs from Anglo-Saxon countries in this respect. In the future, France will continue to develop ties with its allies in the region without being caught up in the US’s China strategy.
[1] “Australia and France Agree On Reciprocal Pacific Military Base Access”, Asia Nikkie, https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/International-relations/Indo-Pacific/Australia-and-France-agree-on-reciprocal-Pacific-military-base-access, (Erişim Tarihi: 07.12.2023).
[2] Ibıd.
[3] “‘Stab in the Back’: France Hits Out at Aukus Alliance with Fears It Threatens Indo-Pacific Partnerships”, Independent, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/france-nuclear-alliance-uk-us-australia-b1921339.html, (Erişim Tarihi: 07.12.2023).
[4] “Biden’dan ‘AUKUS’ açıklaması: Anlaşmayı ‘beceriksiz’ bir şekilde ele aldık”, Trt Haber, https://www.trthaber.com/haber/dunya/bidendan-aukus-aciklamasi-anlasmayi-beceriksiz-bir-sekilde-ele-aldik-621542.html, (Erişim Tarihi: 07.12.2023).
[5] “Australia And France Sign Military Access Agreement As Post-Aukus Tensions Ease”, The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/04/australia-france-military-access-agreement-bases-details-aukus-aftermath-submarines, (Erişim Tarihi: 07.12.2023).
[6] Ibıd.
[7] Ibıd.
