- Nineteen prisoners use cutlery to break out of cells at Winchester prison
- France wants progress in Ukraine before Russia returns to G7
- Italy president begins talks to seek way out of government crisis
- Italian PM expected to resign as political chaos deepens
- Russia says US cruise missile test ‘regrettable’
- Kremlin - No date set for Normandy talks on Ukraine despite Macron meeting
- Egypt court hands out 6 death sentences on terror charges
- Putin says Russian nuclear explosion poses no threat
- Russian panel eyes alleged foreign interference in protests
- Gran Canaria wildfire triggers evacuation of thousands of people
- PM Johnson calls on Germany and France to compromise on Brexit
- Sudan's ex-president Bashir arrives at corruption trial
Wednesday, 3 November 2021 (YJC)_ The French ambassador to Australia has accused Canberra of stabbing them in the back, accusing the country of "fraud" in canceling a submarine contract with Paris.
The controversy over the British-Australian military agreement with the United States and the Indo-Pacific, which led to the cancellation of the Canberra contract to buy a submarine from Paris, continues to strain French-Australian relations.
The French ambassador to Australia, Jean-Pierre Thebault, said today (Wednesday) that Canberra had committed "deception and fraud" when it abruptly canceled a multibillion-dollar contract with Paris to build a submarine fleet.
According to Reuters, Thebault explained in a short interview with reporters: This was a deliberate deception. Since more things are at stake than submarines, how to do this can be described as a dagger from behind.
Australia canceled its deal with the French naval group in September and instead decided to build at least 12 nuclear submarines as a joint production with the United States and Britain.
"The French government has no problem with the Australian people," he said: These are not things to be done between partners, let alone between friends.
The ambassador to Paris in Canberra called the disclosure of messages between the two countries' leaders a sign of the lowest level of relations between the two countries, and said the move sends a worrying signal to heads of state that confidential messages may one day "take up arms against you".
Your Comment