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.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that division between the two superpowers, the United States and China, is the main risk currently confronting the world as he emphasised the need for building new coalitions between Paris and partners in the Indo-Pacific.

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.