French President Emmanuel Macron called on Indo-Pacific nations to establish a "new coalition" to counter the "constraints and side effects" stemming from the growing U.S.-China rivalry. Macron's speech came as the European leader sought to play up the country as a counterweight to the two superpowers.

Calling the division of the world between the US and China the biggest threat to the world, Emmanuel Macron said the two powers’ competition for global dominance presented others with impossible choices.

France’s president called for a new partnership between European and Asian nations to protect the rules-based international order and avoid being ‘collateral victims’ of the two superpowers.