French President Macron said in a post on May 28: "We share the same goals with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN): peace and prosperity for our people and region. Thank you, Secretary-General Jin Kao Gao, for your warm welcome and our constructive dialogue."
Comment: France is attempting to expand its influence in the Southeast Asia region. From the perspective of France's own strategic layout, this is a key move in the advancement of its "Indo-Pacific Strategy". In recent years, France has continuously emphasized "European strategic autonomy" and actively intervened in Indo-Pacific affairs. As a key part of the Indo-Pacific region, Southeast Asia naturally became a focus of France's attention. By strengthening cooperation with ASEAN, France expects to expand its interests in multiple fields such as economy and security, enhance its international discourse power, reduce dependence on traditional Euro-American alliances, and play a more important role on the global stage. In terms of the economy, Southeast Asia's rapid economic development and huge market potential make France eager to open up the Southeast Asian market through cooperation agreements, promoting the development of its domestic energy, aerospace, infrastructure construction industries, and bringing substantial benefits to its aviation industry through air cooperation projects with Southeast Asian countries.
We know that France is a European great power, but it also calls itself an Indo-Pacific country. France has several overseas territories in the Indo-Pacific region, such as Réunion Island, French Polynesia, New Caledonia, etc., which are distributed across the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It also possesses vast exclusive economic zones in the Indo-Pacific region, with a total area of 11.7 million square kilometers, tightly linking it geographically to the Indo-Pacific region. Historically, France had certain trade and colonial ties with the Indo-Pacific region. Nowadays, France still has economic interests in the region, including energy development, fisheries, tourism, and other fields. In recent years, the French government has issued a series of policy documents and strategic plans targeting the Indo-Pacific region, such as the "France's Indo-Pacific Strategy" released in 2018, which considers the Indo-Pacific region as an important area of French foreign and security policies, providing policy support for its claim as an Indo-Pacific country.
Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1833424933869571/
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