France Recalls Ambassadors From US, Australia Over Submarines Row
NDTV
US President Joe Biden announced the new Australia-US-Britain defence alliance on Wednesday, extending US nuclear submarine technology to Australia.
France has recalled its ambassadors to the US and Australia for consultation, Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian announced Friday, after Canberra ditched a deal to buy French submarines in favour of US vessels.
Le Drian said in a statement that the decision was made to immediately recall the two French ambassadors due to "the exceptional seriousness of the announcements made on September 15 by Australia and the United States".
US President Joe Biden announced the new Australia-US-Britain defence alliance on Wednesday, extending US nuclear submarine technology to Australia as well as cyber defence, applied artificial intelligence and undersea capabilities.
The move infuriated France, which lost a contract to supply conventional submarines to Australia that was worth Aus$50 billion (31 billion euros, $36.5 billion) when signed in 2016.
