GZERO Europe

Carl Bildt, former prime minister of Sweden, shares his perspective on European politics from Washington, DC.

What's been the fallout from President Macron's visit to China?

Confusion might perhaps be the most diplomatic way of phrasing it. Because whatever he meant to say, he phrased it in such a way that it gave rise to a lot of misunderstanding. It was interpreted, not least on this side of the Atlantic, as a fundamentally different policy on Taiwan. That is not the case. We have fundamentally the same policy in Europe and the US on Taiwan, the One-China policy, not support for Taiwan independence, strong support for Taiwan's democracy, and a resolute opposition to any attempts at changing the status quo by force. That would have been a better way of phrasing it from President Macron side.