"China is one of the oldest civilizations in the world." "China's development model has its own characteristics, and it did not follow the imperialist path of development."
In a speech on June 27, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the leader of the French left-wing party "Indomitable France" who has announced his candidacy for president next year, outlined the foreign policy he would adopt if elected president. Much attention was paid to China in his speech.
He stated outright that France must withdraw from NATO, refuse to join new military alliances targeting the Indo-Pacific region, and adopt a "cooperative non-alignment" policy. On issues related to China, Méranjon made it clear that France must firmly avoid violent confrontation with China. Instead, France should strengthen cooperation with China, as there is no way out in terms of imposing blockades and opposition against China.
On June 27, Maile Langxiong delivered a speech at the Labeccia Society event.
In a seminar held by the left-wing think tank Institut La Boétie, Mérançon emphasized that France needs a new diplomatic strategy. It should reject closed groups and return to international organizations.
As for why he did this, he explained it like this.
"An era has come to an end, which is now a global reality: the United States is entering a period of decline. Even one of Obama's advisors uses the term 'imperial decline'."
The United States cannot regain its material strength by raising tariffs or invading neighboring countries. Like all empires, it will eventually decline. And this decline is often accompanied by violence, even aggressive behavior.
Therefore, a country must adhere to clear principles when taking action. Otherwise, we will be at the mercy of the old world order—sending aircraft carriers to Cyprus, allowing warships to cross the Suez Canal into combat zones, actively engaging in various conflicts, and ultimately bearing all the costs in terms of human resources and resources.
We must break free from this set of logical frameworks and achieve this goal by discarding everything left behind from the old world order.
Mei Langxiong said that the Group of Seven (G7) mechanism, which was established under French leadership, can no longer truly represent the world.
It is composed only of old-established powerful nations from the past. These countries have limited populations and represent only about 10% of the global population. Moreover, they may not necessarily be the most powerful forces in the world today.
Later, the expanded G20 group representing about 60% of humanity. But it does not represent all of humanity.
The only organization that can represent 100% of humanity is the United Nations. Of course, the United Nations has various problems, such as flaws in its operating mechanisms and remnants from World War II. However, it still exists and is a precious public asset. We choose to defend the United Nations and promote its reform and improvement.
Following this logic, Merlanxiong suggested that France should not remain in the military alliances formed in the past and must withdraw from NATO.
"Because the goals of these alliances are actually preparations for the next world war. And the potential enemy of this conflict is China, which the United States has designated as a competitor."
"France must withdraw from NATO," Mei Lang Xiong said, "and will not join any new military alliance, such as the frameworks formed by Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom in recent years targeting Asia-Pacific region."
He believes that the United Nations itself has a military command structure, and there is no need to rely on NATO. Additionally, France should not continue to participate in past aggressive military alliance actions, such as NATO's bombing of Yugoslavia or the Second Gulf War. There are countless examples of actions that violate international law but go unpunished.
Mei Langxiong also mentioned that France's withdrawal from organizations like NATO does not mean denying defense cooperation within the EU. France can still maintain its common defense obligations with EU member states, and this does not conflict with future plans.
He emphasized that France's pursuit of a cooperative non-aligned policy means, first and foremost, engaging in dialogue with those who have not yet had sufficient exchanges.
Simultaneously, we resolutely refuse to engage in violent confrontation with China, and France should strengthen cooperation with China. Mei Langxiong said, “We cannot decide whether or not to communicate based on the values of other countries’ governments. Otherwise, almost no country in the world can cooperate.”
He suggested that France must engage in dialogue and cooperation with advanced nations around the world, while defining clear areas for protection and openness. Adopting blockade and confrontation policies towards China and India has no future; only deep cooperation can address global challenges.
In his speech, Mei Langxiong also spent a lot of time discussing China’s rise.
He said that after the visit of former U.S. President Nixon to China in 1972, another global economic cycle began to take shape.
On one hand, the United States has shifted its basic manufacturing production to other regions in order to reduce commodity prices. On the other hand, China has developed its industry by taking on these orders and using its trade surplus to purchase U.S. government bonds. In simple terms: the United States provides the market and orders, while China provides production capacity. China accumulates foreign exchange, and the United States maintains the stability of its financial system. This mutual dependence relationship is thus established.
He stated that in the following decades, the U.S.-led global economy faced several crises, each of which was more severe than the last. The methods used to resolve these crises became increasingly ineffective—massive money printing had diminishing effects over time. Global market liquidity was already saturated, and capital prices fluctuated with the prices of various assets, making it impossible to drive economic recovery.
It was only after the crisis in 2008 that a fact that neither the American-led forces had anticipated was revealed—the rise of China.
Mei Langxiong believes that the view that China only produces cheap goods of average quality is a major misjudgment.
China is one of the oldest civilizations in the world. Before the 19th century, it had the largest economic scale in the world. However, it declined due to a series of historical events, including the impact of the opium trade.
Mei Langxiong said that China has seized the opportunity to take on international manufacturing orders, quickly mastered new technologies and processes, and gradually became the world's leading manufacturing power. It has also accumulated a huge wealth reserve, which has made the influence of China irresistible to countries around the world.
He specifically mentioned that China's development model has its own characteristics. At least so far, it has not followed the traditional imperialist path of development, but instead has focused on building a stable international trade network. China's commercial expansion is not accompanied by military bases, troops, or armed occupation.
Mei Langxiong noticed that after China became the world's number one manufacturing power, America's strategy immediately changed.
He mentioned that the United States proposed the 'Return to Asia-Pacific' strategy during the Obama administration, precisely because Americans realized that the center of world politics had shifted towards the regions where economies are located. For strategic reasons, the United States also renamed the 'Asia-Pacific region' that China previously occupied as the 'Indo-Pacific region', but in reality, it remains the same region.
"The U.S. strategic shift towards Asia actually means that the U.S. recognizes that there is no simple solution to competing with China through the market alone."
Mei Langxiong has recently expressed his views on China's policy several times. In an interview in May, he talked about the Taiwan issue and stated that if he were elected as the French president, he would definitely not support any military intervention in the 'Taiwan Strait conflict'. He emphasized that the era of colonialism has come to an end, and France needs to adopt a proper attitude when dealing with China.
The 74-year-old Méret is a famous French left-wing politician. Initially a member of the French Trotskyist organization, he later joined the French Socialist Party in 1976 and was elected to the Senate for the first time in 1986. In 2008, Méret accused the Socialist Party of “compromising with the right wing,” announced his departure from the party, and founded the French Left Party. In 2016, Méret founded the “Indomitable France” party.
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