Reference News Network, July 13 report - According to the website of Singapore's "Lianhe Zaobao" on July 13, French Ambassador to Australia Pierre-André Hamboule said that after the diplomatic incident in 2021 over the submarine procurement contract, France and Australia's defense relationship has been repaired.

The report cited AFP news agency saying that Hamboule said when Australia canceled a $ billions worth diesel-powered submarine procurement contract with France, France expressed "strong regret."

However, since Australian Prime Minister Albanese took office in 2022, the defense relationship between the two countries has been "restarted."

He said: "Now, the primary pillar of cooperation between the two countries is defense and security, so we have a good level of cooperation."

The report stated that in September 2021, the U.S., UK, and Australia announced the establishment of the "AUKUS alliance," under which the U.S. would assist Australia in obtaining submarines and related technologies. Australia then terminated the submarine procurement contract it had reached with France in 2016. France was very upset about the U.S. and Australia keeping their new cooperation plan secret, triggering a diplomatic incident.

In addition, the U.S. Department of Defense last month said it had launched an review of the AUKUS agreement signed during President Biden's tenure, to assess whether the AUKUS alliance aligns with Trump's "America First" agenda.

When asked if France would be willing to re-discuss a new submarine procurement plan with Australia if the AUKUS agreement were terminated due to the review, Hamboule declined to speculate further.

"I think this is more of an issue for Australia at the moment. Of course, we always maintain dialogue with our Australian friends. But at the moment, they have chosen the AUKUS alliance. If circumstances change in the future and they make a request, we will see."

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