Macron to pitch France as reliable alternative on Asia tour amid US-China rivalry

By Michel Rose

PARIS (Reuters) -French President Emmanuel Macron will travel to south east Asia to pitch France and Europe as reliable partners with "no strings attached" as the U.S. and China use more aggressive ways to gain influence in the region, officials said.

Macron is set to arrive in Hanoi on Sunday, the first trip to Vietnam by a French president in nearly a decade, move on to Indonesia and finish up in Singapore, where he will speak at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia's top defence conference.

Macron will present France and Europe as defenders of international cooperation and rules-based trade, at a time when other world powers such as the U.S. under President Donald Trump and China use more "coercive" or "predatory" methods.

"As far as we're concerned, we defend the idea of rules for international trade, we don't advocate for the law of the jungle, where it's about survival of the fittest," a French presidential adviser said on Wednesday.

Export-reliant Vietnam was caught off guard by the threat of high tariffs from the U.S. and France, and is keen to diversify its supply sources and markets to rely less on China.

Dozens of deals were being prepared and could be signed during the three state visits, the Elysee told Reuters earlier.

Macron is following leaders of China, Japan and other European countries in visiting the region in recent weeks, in a sign of south east Asia's strategic importance amid uncertainties on global supply chains and trade.

The French leader will also use a speech to Indonesian students and the Singapore conference to dispel "misunderstandings" about the European position on conflicts beyond the region, denying any double standards on Gaza and framing Ukraine as not solely a European issue.

Macron's criticism of Israel has become more strident over recent months, calling Benjamin Netanyahu's action in Gaza "shameful", which French officials hope will resonate in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-majority country.

Asked whether Indonesia, which has bought French-made Rafale warplanes, may need reassuring after at least one similar jet from the Indian army was downed by Pakistan, the French presidential adviser said the trip was not about specific "news items".

"Unlike with the United States or other countries, French partners know there's "no strings attached" with (our material)," he said.

(Reporting by Michel Rose, editing by Ed Osmond)