Almost one week after Australia, the UK and the US signed the AUKUS pact, its tremors are being felt in New York where the world has converged for the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
In one of the strongest criticisms heard from outside the triad, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Tuesday that the AUKUS move was "irritating". Supporting the French stand, Maas said: "I can well understand the anger of our French friends".
Mass shared his observations just before US President Joe Biden made his maiden speech as President before the UN.
The AUKUS deal continues to snowball.
France, which continues to be livid with both Australia and the US, has pulled out of a foreign ministers' meeting with the US, the UK and Germany. The meeting had been planned on Wednesday in New York on the sidelines of the UNGA.
Maas confirmed the news on Tuesday saying that the meeting has been postponed, not cancelled.
A US official said that schedules are dynamic and it is unconfirmed whether the foreign ministers will meet this week. However, she added that a possibility for a meeting exists between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian later this week.
The AUKUS trilateral pact will push Australia as a core partner to challenge China's aggressive rise in the Indo-Pacific. Under the pact, the US will help Australia develop nuclear-powered submarines. The pact led Australia to cancel its nearly $40 billion conventional submarine deal with France, angering the European ally.
The deal has caused a major crisis of trust between France and the other allies. In a strong retaliatory move, Paris recalled its ambassadors to Australia and the US–underlining its anger visibly.
European nations have supported France against the US over what they see as a breach of faith. Trust in the US has slid further in Europe after the chaotic and poorly managed US withdrawal from Afghanistan, leaving the country in an unprecedented mess.
In New York itself, Belgian Foreign Minister Sophie Wilmes said that the deal was, "a thunderbolt first for France but also for Europe and for the world on a geostrategic level."
European Union chief Charles Michel too condemned Washington for lack of loyalty. Michel told the media in New York: "The elementary principles for allies are transparency and trust, and it goes together. And what do we observe? We are observing a clear lack of transparency and loyalty".
Modi, Macron discuss Indo-Pacific amid seismic shifts in the region
