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France's Macron to Visit Serbia With a Possible Deal to Sell French Warplanes

French President Emmanuel Macron (Reuters)
French President Emmanuel Macron (Reuters)
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France's Macron to Visit Serbia With a Possible Deal to Sell French Warplanes

French President Emmanuel Macron (Reuters)
French President Emmanuel Macron (Reuters)

French President Emmanuel Macron starts a two-day state visit to Serbia on Thursday with the focus on the possible sale of 12 Rafale multi-purpose fighter jets to the country, which has maintained close ties to Russia despite its invasion of Ukraine.
Macron is to meet populist President Aleksandar Vucic in Belgrade on Thursday evening, when the deal reportedly worth 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) is expected to be announced, The Associated Press said.
An official in Macron’s office, who was not authorized to be identified according to French presidential policy, said the warplane talks are part of a larger strategy of ″bringing Serbia closer to the EU.″
Serbia needs to upgrade its fleet and the Rafale is a ″strategic choice″ for Belgrade, which could choose to rely only on Russian equipment instead, the official said.
Serbia is formally seeking European Union membership, but under Vucic’s increasingly autocratic rule it has made little progress in the fields of rule of law and democratic reforms, which are the main preconditions for membership in the 27-nation bloc.
In a letter to the Serbian public published in the local media on Thursday, Macron sought to encourage the Balkan nation to pursue its EU future but noted that “the perspective of joining the European Union does not seem to be as attractive as it should.” He cited “concerns and fatigue over the rhythm of accession talks but also sometimes a sort of resentment, even mistrust” of the EU.
“I come here to Serbia again today with a simple message: The European Union and its nations need to have a strong and democratic Serbia in their ranks, and Serbia needs a strong and sovereign European Union to defend and promote its interests with respect of its identity,” Macron said in the letter, published in the liberal Danas newspaper.
Macron also warned that after Russia attacked Ukraine, Serbia’s “balancing game” between the world powers is an “illusion.” He said Serbia will only be able to protect its interests and preserve its identity as part of the EU.
Serbia has been considering the purchase of the new Rafale jets for more than two years, since neighboring Balkan rival Croatia purchased 12 used fighter jets of the same type for about 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion).
The potential acquisition of Rafale jets would allow Serbia to modernize its air force, which consists mainly of Soviet-made MiG-29 fighters and aging Yugoslav combat aircraft.
Russia has been a traditional supplier of military aircraft, including combat helicopters, to Serbia, which has refused to join international sanctions against Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.
The rapid arming by the Serbian military has worried some of its neighbors following the bloody breakup of the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. Serbia is almost completely surrounded by NATO member countries.
Selling Rafales to Russian ally Serbia, which has occasionally expressed an aggressive stance toward its Balkan neighbors, has raised some concerns, one of which is how France plans to prevent sophisticated Rafale technology from being shared with Russia.
Asked if there would be a clause restricting the use of the Rafales, the French official said ″in any contract there are clauses that set a framework for the use of such material."
Macron's talks with Vucic will include simmering tensions in the Balkans, especially in the former Serbian province of Kosovo which declared independence in 2008.
Macron’s itinerary also includes a visit to a museum and an economic forum on artificial intelligence in the northern town of Novi Sad on Friday. Also on the agenda is a possible agreement with French energy provider EDF on cooperation in the field of nuclear power plant technology.

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US Forces Ready with a 'Range of Options' to Deal with South China Sea Aggression, US Admiral Says

US Indo-Pacific Command Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo, left, and Philippines military chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr., shake hands after a press conference on the Mutual Defense Board-Security Engagement Board held at the Philippine Military Academy in Baguio, northern Philippines on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
US Indo-Pacific Command Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo, left, and Philippines military chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr., shake hands after a press conference on the Mutual Defense Board-Security Engagement Board held at the Philippine Military Academy in Baguio, northern Philippines on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
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US Forces Ready with a 'Range of Options' to Deal with South China Sea Aggression, US Admiral Says

US Indo-Pacific Command Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo, left, and Philippines military chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr., shake hands after a press conference on the Mutual Defense Board-Security Engagement Board held at the Philippine Military Academy in Baguio, northern Philippines on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
US Indo-Pacific Command Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo, left, and Philippines military chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr., shake hands after a press conference on the Mutual Defense Board-Security Engagement Board held at the Philippine Military Academy in Baguio, northern Philippines on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

American forces are ready with a “range of options” to deal with increasing acts of aggression in the disputed South China Sea if ordered to carry them out jointly and after consultations with treaty ally the Philippines, a US admiral said Thursday.

US Indo-Pacific Command chief Adm. Samuel Paparo, who heads the biggest number of combat forces outside the US mainland, refused to provide details of the contingency options.

According to The AP, Paparo's comments came when asked at a news conference what the longtime treaty allies could do to deal with China’s so-called gray-zone tactics in the disputed waters.

The “gray-zone tactics” refer to types of assault, like water cannon fire and the blocking and ramming of rival ships in the disputed waters, that are under the threshold of an actual armed attack and wouldn't allow the Philippines to invoke its 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty with the US The treaty obligates either country to help the other in case of an armed external attack.

"We certainly have prepared a range of options and USINDOPACOM stands ready, if so called, after consultations in accordance with the treaty to execute those shoulder to shoulder with our ally,” Paparo said.

Detailing those US military options would allow “the potential adversary” to “build a countermeasure to those,” he said.

Paparo held a joint news conference with Armed Forces of the Philippines chief Gen. Romero Brawner Jr., after both led an annual meeting in the northern Philippine mountain city of Baguio to discuss security challenges and military plans. They include the Balikatan — Tagalog for shoulder to shoulder — the treaty allies’ largest combat exercises, which in April involved more than 16,000 American and Filipinos forces and were partly staged in the South China Sea.

In response to a question, Paparo repeated that the US military is open, after treaty consultations with the Philippines, to escorting Philippine ships in the South China Sea amid a spike in hostilities between Beijing and Manila in the disputed waters. Such a prospect would risk putting US Navy ships in direct collisions with those of China.

Washington and Beijing have been on a collision course over China’s increasingly assertive actions to defend its territorial claims in the South China Sea, and Beijing’s stated goal of annexing Taiwan, by force if necessary.

Brawner said the Philippines could still fend for itself in the disputed waters, where hostilities with the Chinese coast guard, navy and suspected militia ships have alarmingly spiked since last year.

“If we exhaust all the options and nothing works, then that’s the time we can ask for help,” Brawner told reporters.

When Filipino forces in the disputed waters “are at the verge of dying,” because food supplies were being blocked by Chinese forces, “then that’s the time that we are going to seek the help of the United States,” Brawner said, but added that “we still have a lot of options."

During combat exercises by US and Philippine forces in April, the US military transported a mid-range missile system to the northern Philippines, angering China, which warned that the missile system can trigger a regional arms race and endanger regional stability. Beijing demanded that the US missile system, which can threaten mainland China, be pulled out of the Philippines.

Paparo and Brawner refused to say on Thursday if and when the missile system would be flown out of the Philippines. Brawner thanked the US military for transporting the high-tech weaponry to the country, saying Filipino forces were being exposed to advance defense equipment that the Philippine military plan to acquire in the future.

"Just like what we did with the Stingers and with the Javelins, we start training already even if we don’t have them yet in our inventory,” Brawner said.