France accuses Australia, US of ‘lying’ over submarine deal
Al Jazeera
Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian says a ‘serious crisis’ is now in progress between allies after Canberra scraps submarines contract with Paris.
France has accused longtime allies Australia and the United States of lying over a security pact that saw the Australian government scrap a contract to buy French submarines in favour of US vessels.
“There has been lying, duplicity, a major breach of trust and contempt,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian alleged on Saturday. “This will not do,” he told France 2 television.
Le Drian was speaking a day after Paris, on the orders of President Emmanuel Macron, recalled its ambassadors to Canberra and Washington, an unprecedented act that revealed the extent of the anger in France over the rupture of the multibillion-dollar contract.
