French President Emmanuel Macron is gonna be the first European leader to give a speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore later this month. This dialogue is like a big deal in Asia for talking about security stuff, with all the important defense and foreign policy people from around the world coming together to chat about geopolitical challenges and work together. Macron will be joining other big shots like former Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to share his thoughts on Europe’s vision of a rules-based international order and its strategic autonomy in the face of the US-China rivalry.
Macron is also planning to go to the Asean summit in Kuala Lumpur and then head over to Indonesia, the biggest country in the region and like the boss nation. While he’s in Indonesia, he’s gonna hang out with President Prabowo Subianto at a military academy in Central Java. The Philippines isn’t on Macron’s travel list this time, but it’s still getting cozy with European countries like France and Germany. They’re all getting chummy with the Philippines, and the European Union is even trying to get some free-trade action going with Manila and Jakarta. Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr might even pop over to France later this year if they can hammer out some new defense deals and agreements.
After being kind of in the background for a while, Europe and Asean nations are stepping up their friendship game to become middle-power pals. They don’t wanna rely too much on the US or China, so they’re teaming up for shared interests in a world that’s getting more complicated. Not really sure why this matters, but it seems like a good move for them to stick together in this crazy world.
