In April, French President Emmanuel Macron faced strong international backlash when he said Europe should follow neither the U.S. nor China’s position on Taiwan and focus on building "strategic autonomy."
But while the stunning remarks caused a stir among politicians on both sides of the Atlantic, they seem to have resonated with a majority of Europeans, according to a new multicountry survey report by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) think tank.
Released Wednesday, the report suggests that both Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s policy positions of seeing China as a strategic and global partner are “broadly in line with European public opinion” — with many viewing China more as a “necessary partner” than a "rival" to their countries and to Europe as a whole.