PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday that France must not be “weak” faced with the threat from Russia, while emphasising it had no intention of “sending our young people” to fight in the Ukraine war.
“We would be wrong to show weakness in the face of this threat. If we want to protect ourselves, we French — which is my sole concern — we must demonstrate that we are not weak against the power that threatens us the most,” he told RTL radio in an interview.
Macron is expected to make an announcement later this week on a voluntary form of military service, after France scrapped compulsory service in 1997.
He told RTL he would be announcing a “transformation of national service into a new form” on Thursday, but did not provide further details.
A source with knowledge of the matter, speaking anonymously because not allowed to speak to the press, has told AFP that the plan is for 2,000 to 3,000 people to be trained up in the first year, aiming to increase those signing up over time to 50,000 per year.
Macron however stressed that France had no intention of sending its youth to the frontlines.
“It is absolutely necessary, at least immediately, to dispel any confused idea suggesting that we are going to send our young people to Ukraine,” he said.
France’s top general last week caused alarm after warning that the country must be ready to “lose its children” against the background of the threat posed by Russia.
Macron said the comments had been “deformed” and “taken out of context.”
“Soldiers who sign up make sacrifices, but to tell all French people that they are going to be sacrificed, that makes no sense,” he said.
Macron spoke ahead of a planned video call between the 30 countries of the so-called “coalition of the willing” supporting Kyiv on Tuesday afternoon.
If the war sparked by Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine ends in a ceasefire, the coalition aims to send a multinational force to deter any other Russian attack.
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Macron says France must not be ‘weak’ faced with Russia ‘threat’
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Macron says France must not be ‘weak’ faced with Russia ‘threat’
- France wants peace, but not one that allows Russia to continue expanding its aggression, which would endanger the security of other European countries
French first lady Brigitte Macron visits an old friend in China: A giant panda called Yuan Meng
CHENGDU: French first lady Brigitte Macron caught up with an old friend — a giant panda born in France — at the tail end Friday of a visit to China with President Emmanuel Macron.
At a panda reserve in southwest China that Yuan Meng now calls home, the first lady marveled at how big he has grown. She helped chose his name — which means “accomplishment of a dream” — when he was born in a French zoo in 2017.
“When they’re born, they’re like this,” she said, holding up two fingers a short distance apart. Meanwhile, the chunky male roamed in his enclosure, feasting on bamboo and ignoring bystanders who cried out his name, hoping to elicit a reaction.
“They have a very independent character,” she said. “They do only what they want.”
For decades, China has deployed what’s often called “panda diplomacy” to smooth and promote relations with other countries, gifting the animals to friendly nations and lending pandas to zoos overseas on commercial terms.
Emmanuel Macron’s state visit this week to China, his fourth as president, included meetings with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and other officials, discussing Russia’s war in Ukraine, trade ties and other issues.
The China Wildlife Conservation Association said during the visit that it signed a letter of intent to send two of the animals to the Beauval Zoo south of Paris in 2027 under what would be a new 10-year round of panda cooperation with France.
The French zoo sent two 17-year-old pandas — Huan Huan, a female, and her partner Yuan Zi — back to China last month after 13 years on loan in France.
Yuan Meng was their cub, conceived using artificial insemination.
Despite being made in France, he officially belonged to the Chinese government. Yuan Meng bid ‘’adieu’’ to France in 2023, sent off to a new life in the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in southwest China where Brigitte Macron, considered to be his “godmother,” dropped in to see him.
Huan Huan and Yuan Zi also produced female twins in France in 2021.
Huanlili and Yuandudu are also expected to leave the Beauval Zoo for China in the future. The China Wildlife Conservation Association has previously said that it expects them to remain at the French zoo until January 2027.
At a panda reserve in southwest China that Yuan Meng now calls home, the first lady marveled at how big he has grown. She helped chose his name — which means “accomplishment of a dream” — when he was born in a French zoo in 2017.
“When they’re born, they’re like this,” she said, holding up two fingers a short distance apart. Meanwhile, the chunky male roamed in his enclosure, feasting on bamboo and ignoring bystanders who cried out his name, hoping to elicit a reaction.
“They have a very independent character,” she said. “They do only what they want.”
For decades, China has deployed what’s often called “panda diplomacy” to smooth and promote relations with other countries, gifting the animals to friendly nations and lending pandas to zoos overseas on commercial terms.
Emmanuel Macron’s state visit this week to China, his fourth as president, included meetings with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and other officials, discussing Russia’s war in Ukraine, trade ties and other issues.
The China Wildlife Conservation Association said during the visit that it signed a letter of intent to send two of the animals to the Beauval Zoo south of Paris in 2027 under what would be a new 10-year round of panda cooperation with France.
The French zoo sent two 17-year-old pandas — Huan Huan, a female, and her partner Yuan Zi — back to China last month after 13 years on loan in France.
Yuan Meng was their cub, conceived using artificial insemination.
Despite being made in France, he officially belonged to the Chinese government. Yuan Meng bid ‘’adieu’’ to France in 2023, sent off to a new life in the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in southwest China where Brigitte Macron, considered to be his “godmother,” dropped in to see him.
Huan Huan and Yuan Zi also produced female twins in France in 2021.
Huanlili and Yuandudu are also expected to leave the Beauval Zoo for China in the future. The China Wildlife Conservation Association has previously said that it expects them to remain at the French zoo until January 2027.
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