France ambassador said on Saturday Australia made a huge diplomatic mistake by canceling the submarine deal with France.
The deal was a multi-billion dollar order of French submarines in exchange for a deal with the US and Britain.
“I think this has been a huge mistake in handling the partnership,” Ambassador Jean-Pierre Thebault said in Canberra.
“This wasn’t a contract, but a partnership that was supposedly built upon trust, mutual understanding and sincerity,” he added.
On Thursday, Australia said it would abandon France’s 2016 Naval deal to build a conventional submarine fleet.
Also, it’ll build at least eight nuclear-run submarines with technology imported from the US and Britain following a trilateral partnership.
France said the deal cancellation was a stab in the back and recalled its ambassadors from the US and Australia.
Besides, The deal was worth 40 billion dollars in 2016 and is probably worth more now.
“I’d like to use a time machine and be where we don’t wind up in this clumsy situation,” Thebault said.
“I’m very sad to be forced to leave, though there needs to be some reassessment,” he continued.
Australia said it’s regretful that France recalled its ambassador, as it valued the ties with France and would engage with it in the future.
“Australia understands France’s deep disappointment with our decision,” a spokesman for Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne said.
“We took the deal in accordance with our clear and communicated national security interests,” he added.
The US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said that France is a ‘vital ally’ and that the US would engage to fix problems.
The tension marks the lowest in relations between Australia and France since 1995.
In that year, Canberra stood against France’s resumption of nuclear tests in the South Pacific and recalled its ambassador.
