Vincent Boland: Triple pact reveals how a new Cold War between China and the West is now a reality
Offending French sensibilities is the least of the consequences of Australia’s new trilateral defence alliance with Britain and the US
Nobody takes umbrage quite like the French. In the days after Australia, the US and Britain raised the stakes in the West’s confrontation with China by sealing a trilateral defence alliance, France recalled its ambassadors in Washington and Canberra; cancelled a party to celebrate Franco-American friendship; threatened to block talks on an EU-Australia trade deal; and accused the US and Australia of stabbing it in the back.
The spark for this flamboyant diplomatic spat is ...