Secretary of State: Washington, Paris will not allow Chinese dominance

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, speaking in an interview with “The New York Times” after a meeting with President Emmanuel Macron of France, said the United States and France were ‘on the same page’ in their determination to resist the possibility of a Chinese-led world order that would be “profoundly illiberal in nature.”

On his first visit as secretary to France, Mr. Blinken noted, “our purpose is not to contain China” or “try to hold China back.” But when it comes to defending a free and open international order, “we will stand up.”

“And I found that President Macron was thinking in exactly the same way and focused on the need to bring practical results,” Mr. Blinken said.

This amounted to a deeply felt personal call for France and the United States to renew their bond by standing together at a time of challenges, from the coronavirus pandemic to the rise of China, that present “an imperative for cooperation, for coordination, for working together,” in Mr. Blinken’s words.