By Li Hongmei People's Daily Online
The world may evolve in unification-splitting-reunification cycles: after its 43-year absence, France decided to end up its half-in half-out stance in NATO missions and seek a full involvement in the command structure. On Mar 11, French president Nicolas Sarkozy clearly stated that France would be moving closer to playing a full role in NATO's missions and committees ever since his predecessor de Gaulle's decision to withdraw from the command in 1966.
The move will possibly boost France's influence among the Western allies, and allow Paris to promote a common European identity without presenting a rival to the U.S.-led alliance, as Sarkozy and his supporters insist. 'The time had come to once more play a leading role,' said Sarkozy. On the other hand, analysts within and outside of France deem it an adventurist policy, for the simple reason that, in so doing, France would in all likelihood complicate its relations with some other NATO members, and more over, further alienate Russia.
Nevertheless, Sarkozy's turnaround represented a 'break' with the traditional formula set by General Charles de Gaulle. France was actually a founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance (NATO), an allied organization created after World War II and serving as a counterweight against the Warsaw Pact, in particular, designed to defend the West against the Soviet Union.
In March 1966, however, de Gaulle made a powerful symbolic decision that France would withdraw from NATO's integrated military and leadership structures, as de Gaulle refused to allow the French armed forces to fall under the U.S. command and, he was also wary of the country's independent foreign policy. The Soviet Union sang the praises of the maneuver, and in the same year, Moscow welcomed de Gaulle's visit, unprecedentedly elevating the relations of the two traditional foes.
In the post- de Gaulle decades, France has undergone the shift in leadership, but not in foreign policy, especially its consistent independence from the U.S. in making foreign policies. This can be best illustrated in the case of Iraq War, on which France, alongside German and Russia, squarely turned back to the U.S. French former president Jacques Chirac, self claimed to be the successor to de Gaulle, particularly took heed to the significance of the French-Russian relations, and reached out to cement the ties with Russia during his tenure.
The incumbent president Sarkozy is considered a pragmatist politician, and it seems that he takes more interest in mending relations with the U.S. than in making friendly gestures to Russia. He stressed in his announcement seeking to return to the NATO, '…France also knows who our friends are and who our enemies are. I'm not afraid to say it, our friends and allies are first and foremost the Western family.' As a matter of fact, Sarkozy had previously finger-pointed Russia on the sensitive issues like human rights and energy. Therefore the decisive step he recently made in an attempt to get fully involved into the NATO missions will inevitably affect the already volatile French- Russian relations.
Even though Sarkozy made it clear at the Munich Security Conference held on Feb.7 that Russia would not pose a menace either to EU or NATO, and it would be advisable to restore the bilateral trust, his statements were considered no more than diplomatic language, and some said Paris would soon be slipping back as a subordinate to the U.S. in its foreign policies toward Russia.
In a nutshell, if Sarkozy's foreign policies are seen to be pragmatism, his move to get closer to the NATO will be of strategic significance. If it were granted approval in the parliament this week, France's full return would be announced before the April 3-4 NATO summit. And its influence on the relationships of France and Russia, the West as a whole and Russia will be profound and far-reaching. From perspectives of the future international political chessboard, it is anticipated that the further solidarity within the West will instead send its relations with Russia into a stalemate.
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