French officials CANCEL gala dinner celebrating ties with US in protest at losing $90bn sub contract

French diplomats in Washington on Thursday canceled a gala at their embassy to celebrate ties between the U.S. and France amid mounting fury at the Biden administration’s role in scuppering a $90 billion submarine deal with Australia.  

The event was supposed to commemorate the 240th anniversary of the Battle of the Capes, when the French Navy fought the Royal Navy of Britain during the Revolutionary War.

But it will not now go ahead on Friday, an official told the New York Times.

The decision reflects French anger at the announcement that the U.S. and the U.K. would help Australia acquire a nuclear-powered submarine fleet, upending an existing contract with France for 12 diesel vessels. 

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian described the deal as a ‘unilateral, brutal, unpredictable decision’ like those of former President Trump. 

As a result, President Biden finds himself at the center a diplomatic row, accused of failing to consult with crucial allies – much as he was criticized for pushing ahead with the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan. 

The new AUKUS pact to share defense technology between the U.S., U.K. and Australia was meant to show that Washington could still be relied on to promote security in places such as the Indo-Pacific region where China is flexing its muscles. 

Instead American officials spent much of Thursday trying to patch up the damage.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken insisted officials had been in touch with their French counterparts ahead of the announcement and said the U.S. placed ‘fundamental value’ on its relationship with France and on its role in the Indo-Pacific.

‘We look forward to continue close cooperation with NATO, with the European Union, and others in this endeavour,’ he said. 

‘France in particular is a vital partner on this, and so many other issues.’

He was speaking at a news conference after meetings between the U.S. and Australian foreign and defense ministers in Washington.

He said it was up to Australia to explain its decision about how they made the decision over its submarine fleet.

White House Press Secretary echoed that line minutes later. 

‘We value our relationship and our partnership with France on a variety of issues facing the global community,’ she said. 

‘I would leave it of course to our Australia partners to describe why they sought this new technology and why they purchased this technology from the U.S.’ 

Australia selected French shipbuilder Naval Group to build its new submarine fleet, replacing its aging Collins class submarines.

The French vessels were due some time in the mid-2030s.

But the new deal means Australia will use U.S. technology to build a nuclear fleet in Adelaide instead. 

Adding to the anger, French officials said they had been given little warning.

‘We heard about it yesterday,’ Florence Parly, the minister of French Armed Services, told RFI radio on Wednesday. 

The level of French outrage recalled the 2003 rift between Washington and Paris over the Iraq War, which sparked a similar amount of diplomatic fury. 

Diplomats said the deal had been kept under wraps for fear China would launch a counter-messaging campaign if it got wind of the plans. 

But the result was that even friends of the U.S. were apparently taken by surprise. 

In Brussels, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said pointedly: ‘I suppose that an agreement of this nature was not cooked up the day before yesterday. 

‘It takes a certain amount of time, and despite that, no, we were not consulted.

‘That obliges us, once again . to reflect on the need to put European strategic autonomy high on the agenda.

The deal also sidelines New Zealand and Canada – who together with the US, UK and Australia make up the Cold War-era Five Eyes intelligence alliance, but now appear isolated from the group. 

Other reactions were more predictable. 

China also reacted with anger, denouncing it as an ‘exclusionary bloc’ while accusing the allies of possessing a ‘Cold War mentality.’

Beijing has launched frequent broadsides at Washington, furious at the way the Biden administration has called it out over human rights abuses in the Xianjing region, the crackdown on democracy activists in Hong Kong, and cybersecurity breaches.