French President Emmanuel Macron delivered a keynote speech at a Shangri-La security forum in Singapore, addressing global crises and subtly referencing both President Donald Trump and China. Macron emphasized France’s friendship and alliance with the United States, highlighting cooperation despite occasional disagreements and competition with China.
Macron’s serious tone during the speech underscored the importance of international relations and hinted at the complexities of navigating diplomatic partnerships. The French leader’s remarks seemed to convey a message of unity and collaboration while acknowledging the nuances and challenges inherent in strategic alliances.
“The main risk today is the division of two super-powers,” he warned.
In his address, Macron sought to balance affirming France’s commitment to its allies with acknowledging the need for independent foreign policies and approaches. By alluding to both the U.S. and China in his speech, Macron positioned France as a partner open to cooperation while also asserting its autonomy and ability to engage with multiple countries on various levels.
“If China doesn’t want NATO being involved in Southeast Asia or in Asia, they should prevent DPRK to be engaged on European soil,” Macron said in reference to the formal name of North Korea, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Ultimately, he warned that every conflict that is plaguing European, American, Middle Eastern and Asian partnerships — including the wars in Ukraine and Gaza — are interconnected and there is a “big risk” that the universal principles which connect these conflicts have been forgotten.
“If we consider that Russia could be allowed to take a part of the territory of Ukraine without any restriction, without any constraint, without any reaction of the global order…what could happen in Taiwan? What would you do the day something happened in [the] Philippines?” the French president asked.
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (R) reacts as France’s President Emmanuel Macron gives the keynote address at the Shangri-La Dialogue Summit in Singapore on May 30, 2025. (by MOHD RASFAN/AFP via Getty Images)
“What is at stake in Ukraine is our common credibility to be sure that we are still able to preserve territorial integrity and sovereignty of people, no double standard,” Macron said in a counterargument to claims that the war in Ukraine is a European issue.
This extended to the war in Gaza, and Macron argued that giving Israel “a free pass” for its military operations in Gaza that have led to a humanitarian crisis could “kill our own credibility in the rest of the world.”
