French ambassador Marc Abensour has been visiting Wellington. Photo / Diplosphere
France’s ambassador to the Indo-Pacific Marc Abensour said his country is turning the page on the fallout from the Aukus agreement that sent shockwaves through the region two years ago and saw French President Emmanuel Macron accuse former Australian prime minister Scott Morrison of lying.
Speaking to the Herald on a visit to New Zealand, Abensour said he hoped Aukus, which saw Australia ditch an order of conventionally powered French submarines in favour of acquiring British-American nuclear-powered models, would not lead to heightened regional tensions, but whether it did would be seen in the future.
“We hope that emerging formats such as Aukus will not create further bipolarisation,” Abensour said.
Asked whether he believed Aukus, which is widely seen as a move by the three countries involved to head off an increasingly aggressive China, would contribute to increased bipolarisation, Abensour said “we will see, we will see”.
Abensour said France favours “a rules-based order but also the multilateral system” but it was “important to consolidate the multilateral existing fora” - meaning the existing international organisations in which foreign affairs are conducted.
Abensour visited New Zealand on a tour of the region, stopping in Australia and Fiji. While in Wellington, he spoke at an event hosted by the Diplosphere foreign affairs think tank.
New Zealand has been spoiled by foreign visits as geopolitical tensions heat up. Abensour’s visit came the same week US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink visited Auckland.
Abensour is France’s second ambassador to the Indo-Pacific and is based in Paris.
His message is to affirm that France is a country of the Pacific and is keen to partner with Pacific countries for purposes of development and climate change.
“France is a country from the Indo-Pacific because of our territories in the Indian Ocean and in the Pacific Ocean,” Abensour said, speaking of the many island territories France possesses in the region.
The fact France sees itself as a country of the Pacific has never been in question for New Zealand. Quite the opposite. One of the greatest foreign policy challenges of the 20th century was not getting the French to up their involvement in the region - but getting them to leave.
But that is also in the past.
Abensour said the history of French nuclear testing in the Pacific did not come up once during his meetings with New Zealand officials in Wellington on Friday.
Wounds have healed. The region appears more open to the involvement of other countries in the region, although there is the fear this turns the region into a theatre for great power conflict.
He said France was upping its involvement in regional organisations.
It became a development partner of Asean in 2020, the same year it became a full member of the Indian Ocean Rim Association.
Abensour is no stranger to the region. As a young man, he travelled to Taiwan, where he learned Mandarin.
He served as ambassador to Singapore, prior to becoming ambassador for the Indo-Pacific.
Abensour said there are three prongs to the role of Indo-Pacific ambassador: inter-agency co-ordination in France, implementing the European Union’s strategy for co-operation in the region, and finally, representing France at regional groupings.
He said France was committed to these multilateral groupings, such as Asean and the Pacific Islands Forum.
He said emerging small groupings, which could be called “mini-lateralism” - something like Aukus, perhaps - should not come at the expense of making sure existing forums worked well.
“We should work out something complementary between these two, but we would not favour mini-lateralism, which would be at the expense of existing multilateral organisations,” he said.
Abensour said it was crucial the Pacific did “not become the playground for the strategic competition of great players”.