France accuses Australia & US over new security pact

Paris: France has accused Australia and the US over a new security pact. In an interview with French Media, Foreign Minister of France, Jean-Yves Le Drian has accused the countries of “duplicity, a major breach of trust and contempt”.

Earlier, a trilateral security agreement was announced by the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom on Thursday.

The Australia-UK-US( AUKUS) agreement has left France enraged, which has called it a “stab in the back”.

France is upset because it has lost a mega submarine deal to the US, and because it feels



humiliated at being kept in the dark about what the other three democracies were planning. The pact, will see Australia being given the technology to build nuclear-powered submarines. The move thwarted a multibillion-dollar deal France had signed with Australia.

France was informed only hours before the public announcement was made earlier this week. The development has prompted Paris to recall its ambassadors.

The agreement, which also includes the UK, is widely seen as an effort to counter China’s influence in the contested South China Sea.