French President Emmanuel Macron warns against double standards, including in Ukraine-Russia war & Gaza

French President Emmanuel Macron warned against double standards in the current geopolitical environment during his keynote address at the 22nd Shangri-La Dialogue (SLD) on May 30.

He introduced the issue as a "very important concept" in his discussion and cautioned against accepting such double standards.

"We live in this world of multi crises. And the big risk is just to look at these crises at our border, and to forget our principles. And to forget the fact that all these crises and these wars are interconnected."

He commended Singapore for never perceiving the Ukraine-Russia war as a European war, instead being "very vocal" about the topic.

Total mistake to assume Ukraine-Russia war as a European conflict

"Let's be clear. We have several risks of double standards in our current environment," he said, pointing towards places like Ukraine, Africa, and Asia.

Macron said that most of the time, people presumed that the Ukraine-Russia war is a European conflict, and that "we are clearly spending too much energy, too much time, and creating too much pain for the rest of the world with what's happening in Ukraine".

"Allow me to say this is a total mistake. Because 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. How would you phrase what could happen in Taiwan? What will you do the day something happens in [the Philippines]?"

Macron stressed that 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".

"Giving a free pass to Israel"

Macron then said he "hear the voice" in areas like Africa and the Gulf about the perceived double standard in Gaza, where many there think that Americans and Europeans are "giving a free pass to Israel".

Macron acknowledges this is a big risk.

He said this is why they condemned the terrorist attacks from Hamas, but also supported "all initiatives for a ceasefire".

"We do support all the initiatives taken for a ceasefire," Macron said, drawing attention to ceasefire efforts made by the U.S., Egypt, Jordan, and Qatar.

Macron also said that "the emergency is for humanitarian answer".

He added that there is also a lot of work to be done for the recognition of a Palestinian state, as well as the creation of a strong architecture of security in the region.

"If we abandon Gaza, if we consider there is a free pass for Israel, even if we do condemn the terrorist attacks, we kill our own credibility with the rest of the world," Macron said. "This is why we do reject double standards."

"And this is why I think it's very important in our current environment to be consistent and to follow our principles, our rules, and to consider that what is at stake is clearly the global order, and what is at stake is our credibility to protect this global order," Macron said.

Top image via IISSorg/YouTube