ISTANBUL

French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday called for closer cooperation between Europe and Asia to address rising global security challenges and safeguard international norms.

Speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, a key annual defense and security forum, Macron urged the international community to work together to resist pressures from countries seeking territorial and resource control.

"We have a challenge of revisionist countries that want to impose, under the name of spheres of influence, (and) spheres of coercion,” Macron said.

"Countries that want to control areas from the fringes of Europe to the archipelagos in the South China Sea... that want to appropriate resources, whether fishing or mineral, and crowd out others for their benefit," he said.

"I will be clear, France is a friend and an ally of the United States, and is a friend, and we do cooperate, even if sometimes we disagree and compete with China,” Macron said.

He emphasized that Asia and Europe share a common interest in preventing the erosion of the global system.

"The time for non-alignment has undoubtedly passed, but the time for coalitions of action has come, and requires that countries capable of acting together give themselves every means to do so," he stressed.

The French president’s visit to Southeast Asia comes as France and the EU seek to deepen commercial and diplomatic ties in the region to balance growing uncertainties over US trade policies under President Donald Trump, including new tariff threats.

"Our shared responsibility is to ensure, with others, that our countries are not collateral victims of the imbalances linked to the choices made by the superpowers," the French president added.

He also addressed concerns about the global impact of the war in Ukraine.

"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 would you do on the day something happens in the Philippines?"

Macron called on China to use its influence to prevent North Korea from supporting Russia in Ukraine, noting: "If Beijing doesn’t want NATO being involved in Southeast Asia or Asia, it has to help us put pressure on North Korea."

Concerning the Middle East, Macron emphasized the importance of addressing the humanitarian situation in Gaza, warning that credibility is at risk.

"If we abandon Gaza, if we consider there is a free pass for Israel, even if we do condemn the terrorist attacks, we will kill our credibility," he said.