France should avoid being dragged into US-China rivalry: Chief of Defense Staff

France should avoid being drawn into the growing rivalry between China and the United States, which will become a central geopolitical confrontation of the future, General Francois Lecointre, Chief of the country's Defense Staff told a daily newspaper.

According to the general, the future international arena will revolve around the standoff between Beijing and Washington, in which all third states will have to pick a side, something neither France nor Europe is interested in.

"While it is not about questioning our relationship with the United States, which is of vital importance, we must not allow ourselves to be drawn into... the confrontation that threatens to unfold between China and the United States," Lecointre said.

The general also mentioned concerns of the Eastern European nations over Russia's rearmament, as Moscow, in his opinion, along with Beijing, is becoming an increasingly dangerous rival in space and underwater.

"This confrontation is dangerous," he added.

Lecointre also said that Moscow was trying to weaken the democratic model by acting in the field of digital technologies, and noted that the presence of Russia, Turkey, or China in Africa was disturbing and destabilizing.

China and Russia on their part have repeatedly stated that the era of the US hegemony was over and that the world needed to move toward a multilateral model.

(ANI/Sputnik)

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