US and France’s Joint Statement Reaffirms Stability Across Taiwan Strait And Confrontation Against CCP’s Challenge

On December 1st, US and French president released a 3,000-word joint statement after their meeting in Washington, saying the two countries would continue the coordination and cooperation to confront the challenge posed by Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) deliberate attempts to undermine rule-based international order and persecute human rights. The two leaders also emphasized the significance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. French president Emmanuel Macron reportedly arrived in Washington on November 29th for a three-day visit and held a meeting with his American counterpart Joe Biden on December 1st. According to foreign media, Antoine Bondaz, director of the Taiwanese Security and Diplomacy Program at the French think tank ‘Foundation for Strategic Research’, said in a recent interview that the French officials never mentioned Taiwan issue before 2022. However, France has talked about the self-governing island for the first time in its Indo-Pacific strategy document since this February. Subsequently, President Macron referred to Taiwan and Taiwan Strait for the first time in an address to French diplomats on September 1st. In November, the issue of stability across the Taiwan Strait was mentioned again in the latest strategic report released by Paris. In the US-French joint statement, Paris stressed once again the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, demonstrating France has been vigilant to CCP’s growing threat and had to cooperate with the US and like-minded allies to confront Beijing’s challenge.