00:00French President Emmanuel Macron is continuing his tour of Southeast Asia today.
00:06Macron began that trip with a stop in Vietnam, the first visit by a French president to the former French colony in a decade.
00:12Today, he is moving on to Indonesia.
00:15Southeast Asia is caught in the confrontation between the U.S. and China,
00:19and Macron is hoping to show France as a potential alternative trading partner,
00:24saying they know and can rely on France.
00:30We don't want to be dependent on the great powers.
00:36We want to cooperate, but be able to choose.
00:39That means in every area of the game, our education, innovation, industry, health, energy, geopolitics, and defense.
00:49We want to be able to work with the Americans and the Chinese.
00:53We want to have the best relations in the world, but not to be dependent on them.
00:58We want our sovereignty and our stability to be respected.
01:03We're going to talk more about Macron's trip to Southeast Asia now with Juliette Loesch.
01:09Thanks so much for taking the time to speak to us.
01:11We just heard President Macron there warning those students in Vietnam about how everything can change on the impulse of a superpower.
01:18How much is this trip really about Macron trying to establish France as a viable alternative to countries like the United States?
01:24Well, it is very much about that.
01:31Well, geopolitically, but also in business wise.
01:35But it is not a new orientation of France and it is it's been inscribed in French in the French Indo-Pacific strategy for many years now,
01:46even though the actual term of third way or alternative is not something that it's being debated within academic milieu or diplomatic milieu.
01:59But the idea that France is offering something else, something that enhances or supports the sovereignty of both France and its partners is nothing new.
02:13And it's the message that Macron delivered yesterday in Vietnam and certainly will deliver in Indonesia and in Singapore.
02:19Well, let's start with Vietnam.
02:21What did he accomplish there exactly?
02:23What kind of deals were made?
02:24Well, so the first thing for Emmanuel Macron was to meet again with the new secretary general of the Vietnamese Communist Party, Tho Lam, who was in Paris a few months ago.
02:44So it was for them an occasion, an opportunity to foster their relationship.
02:51And of course, Macron was not alone.
02:53He was accompanied by a delegation of businessmen and women, but also representatives from other sectors of society.
03:02And the deals that were made were made in many sectors, but sectors that are critical to the relationship between both countries and that have been on the table for quite some time now.
03:22So these sectors are, for example, health, but also technology and, of course, energy transition, especially within the framework of the Just Transition Energy Partnership, or GTP, which is a framework within which France has committed to invest 500 million euros over time.
03:47Juliette, also in Vietnam, the French president visited a Hanoi War Memorial to those who fought against French colonial occupation, that occupation that ended in 1954 after that bloody uprising.
04:00How long a shadow does that still cast today in relations between France and Vietnam?
04:08I'm not sure.
04:10Definitely, we can't say that it doesn't cast a shadow in the sense that, of course, history has a legacy.
04:19But now I would say that both countries are ready to engage in deeper relations and to share this memory and to not make it a burden,
04:34but to be rather oriented towards new perspectives together.
04:44Juliette, just before you go, I have to ask you about that viral video of the president and the first lady coming off the plane in Hanoi in what looks to be his wife, perhaps slapping him, hitting the president in the face with both hands.
04:55How bad a PR debacle was that for this very important Southeast Asia trip?
05:00Well, I'm not sure it's my domain of expertise to comment on that gesture from Brigitte Macron, but I wouldn't say it was a PR debacle at all.
05:15I mean, it's been discussed here in France, but I don't see it as really being an obstacle for the rest of the visit.
05:25Juliette, then just very briefly, now, of course, the French president moving on toward Indonesia.
05:31What do you see coming out of that visit?
05:36Well, the visit in Indonesia is very important.
05:39Well, they are all important, of course, but Indonesia has been a focus, a priority of the French diplomacy for some years.
05:48And President Macron and President Prabowo, the new president of Indonesia since October 2024, have a quite close relationship and which was quite successful.
06:02And in a way that France and Indonesia were able to become closer on certain sectors, especially defense cooperation, armament cooperation.
06:18But it's not only about the success of the French industry in Indonesia.
06:24It's also about cooperation on the domain of common strategic interests for both countries, especially protecting, safeguarding maritime areas and promoting international law, especially in the South China Sea.
06:43Juliette, thank you so much for sharing your expertise with us.
