International Observation | "Living in the Shadow of Empires" - The "Care" of the United States towards its "allies" at the beginning

"I have indeed encountered foreign interference. Most of the time, these interferences come from a friendly allied country - the United States. President Sarkozy and I have been monitored by the US National Security Agency for 5 years." In May of this year, during a hearing on foreign interference in the French National Assembly, former French Prime Minister Fillon's statement was both unexpected and reasonable.

The "ally system" is an important means for the United States to maintain its own hegemony, but the United States does not treat its allies equally and often treats them as attendants who can be controlled at any time.

A survey released by the Pew Research Center in June this year showed that among 23 countries including the UK, France, and Germany, the median proportion of respondents who believed that the US had made significant or considerable interference in the affairs of other countries was as high as 82%, while the median proportion of respondents who believed that the US did not consider the interests of other countries was 50%. "Any American ally knows that they are living under the shadow of an empire," British political commentator Ian Martin wrote. "America often only does things that are in its own interest."

For a long time, France, which harbors strategic autonomy ambitions, often has conflicts of interest and differences of opinion with the United States on certain issues, making it a "key focus" of Washington's attention and frequently being "stabbed" and "stumbling" by the United States.

At a hearing on foreign interference held in the French National Assembly in May this year, Fillon was questioned by lawmakers, mainly about his previous employment in Russian companies. As a result, the former French Prime Minister revealed that he had been subject to long-term surveillance by the United States.

Fillon pointed out that the United States is not only monitoring the French, but also other allies. "According to leaked documents from US intelligence agencies, the US National Security Agency is also monitoring German Chancellor Merkel and all members of the French cabinet, and without a doubt, other European politicians."

The long-term monitoring of allies by the United States has long been an "open secret". Ten years ago, the German magazine Der Spiegel revealed that the United States had surveillance stations in European cities such as Berlin, Paris, and Geneva. Later, WikiLeaks revealed that European politicians such as then German Chancellor Merkel, French President Chirac, Sarkozy, Hollande, and others were being monitored by the US. The secret US military documents that appeared on social media in the first half of this year show that Washington has been monitoring friendly country politicians, including South Korea and Israel.

The United States is indifferent to monitoring its allies. Former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, James Woolsey, even published an article in 2000 titled "Why Do We Monitor Our Allies", eloquently discussing the "reasonableness" of US surveillance of our allies: "Yes, dear friends on the European continent, we monitor you to curb your bribery."

However, what is the real situation? The painstakingly managed massive monitoring network allows the United States to gain insight into the internal affairs of its allies and maximize its own interests. The European Parliament has released a research report on the "commercial espionage activities" of American spy agencies, revealing a number of American spy cases. For example, in 1994, the National Security Agency of the United States eavesdropped on faxes and phone calls of negotiations between European Airbus, headquartered in France, Saudi Arabian Airlines, and the Saudi government, and provided relevant information to Airbus's American competitors, helping American companies ultimately secure large orders.

On October 26, 2013, in the US capital Washington, a large anti surveillance billboard was erected in front of the Capitol building. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Fang Zhe

Long arm jurisdiction over harmful allies

Another typical interference behavior of the United States towards its allies is long arm jurisdiction. "Its impact on our economic life has the most serious consequences," said Fillon. The United States, through its long arm jurisdiction, "interferes with cases involving European companies and completely disregards international regulations.".

Fillon mentioned that in 2014, the United States accused BNP Paribas of transferring funds to countries under US sanctions, forcing the bank to pay a huge fine of nearly $9 billion. "I once asked the management of BNP Paribas about this case, 'Why do we have to trade in US dollars instead of euros to avoid risk?' They told me that if we trade in euros, we will face measures from the United States, and a multinational bank cannot withstand such hostility from the United States."

Financial industry insiders point out that as an important bank of European powers, BNP Paribas, if it uses euros for large fund settlements, will be seen as a challenge to the hegemonic position of the US dollar, thus attracting retaliatory measures from the United States.

During his tenure as French Prime Minister, Fillon wanted to further internationalize the euro to counter the hegemony of the US dollar. For this, he met with finance ministers from multiple European countries. Among them, then German Finance Minister Wolfgang Sch ö ubler told Fillon that this idea was good, but Germany would not participate because Europe relied on the United States for defense.

In April of this year, at a public hearing in the French National Assembly, former French Minister of Economy Montebourg talked about the Alstom case he handled during his tenure, which is a typical case under the jurisdiction of the United States. In 2013, the United States arrested French Alstom executive Frederick Pierucci on charges of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, accusing him of involvement in a corruption case related to Alstom that occurred in Indonesia in April 2003. Pierucci was sentenced to prison, while Alstom was fined heavily and ultimately sold its business to its main competitor, General Electric, under pressure from the US. France's "industrial gem" was dismembered by the US.

Montebourg summarized the US intervention methods as follows: first, gather information about foreign companies through intelligence agencies, then sue these companies through long arm jurisdiction, and finally help US companies acquire the business of these foreign competitors. Montebourg pointed out that in the Alstom case, the evidence submitted by the US Department of Justice at the time included a massive amount of emails intercepted by US intelligence agencies.

"How can we accept such long arm jurisdiction? The United States has not suffered any harm, and this case does not involve US companies or US territory. This is a contract between Indonesia and Alstom," Montebourg said. "This is a violation of our sovereignty, an interference in our corporate activities, and illegal surveillance. Faced with these, protests have been low and political and diplomatic responses have not been sufficient. This is a violation of our national interests."

On June 1, 2003, then French President Chirac and then US President Bush looked left and right at the G8 summit in Evian, France. On the issue of using force against Iraq, Chirac firmly opposes Bush's approach of bypassing the United Nations. Shen Jizhong

Manipulating military sales to grab ally orders

The United States also uses its allies' reliance on the US side in key weapons and equipment as a leverage to control its allies. At a hearing in April this year, Montebourg mentioned something like this: "In 2003, President Chirac decided to exercise France's veto power in the United Nations Security Council, opposing the Western invasion of Iraq. Due to the United States' control over the catapults of our aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, it unilaterally declared an embargo on domestically manufactured strategically valuable weapon components."

"This is the retaliatory action taken by foreign countries who claim to be France's' friends'," Montebourg said. "The government said 'no' to the Security Council in accordance with the principle of multilateralism of the United Nations, and as a result, our country's defense sector was sanctioned. This is interference with our sovereignty in politics, law, and economy."

For its own interests, the United States is also ruthless in stabbing its allies in the back. In February 2019, Australia signed an agreement with France to order 12 conventional powered submarines, with a contract value of billions of euros. In September 2021, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia established a trilateral security partnership, and the two countries announced that they would help Australia establish a nuclear submarine force. The Australian side subsequently announced the suspension of the submarine procurement agreement with the French side and instead purchased US nuclear submarines.

According to The New York Times, as early as the beginning of US President Biden's inauguration in 2021, Australia had been in talks with the US regarding cooperation on nuclear submarines, but the US has been hiding this matter and "doing everything possible to keep Paris in the dark.". In June 2021, French President Macron met with Biden, who did not mention the issue of nuclear submarines. It was not until a few hours before the official announcement of the establishment of the US UK Australia trilateral security partnership on September 15th that the White House informed Paris of this news. France is extremely angry about this and has recalled its ambassadors to the United States and Australia.

The French newspaper Echo commented at the time that the Biden administration placed its own strategic interests "above the strategic interests of its allies.". Georgina Wright, the European project leader of the Montaigne Institute in France, believes that the United States does not care about the impact of the trilateral security partnership agreement on France, demonstrating a typical US priority approach.

From illegal surveillance to long arm jurisdiction, to military embargoes and order grabs, the French are actually well aware of what these "care" from the United States towards France means. Christina Bier, a researcher at the Schiller Institute, a French think tank, said in an interview with Xinhua News Agency that American bullying has never spared its allies. The practice of the United States coercing allies and other countries to comply in order to maintain its own interests is becoming increasingly open and crude.

Macron said that Europe must fight for strategic autonomy. And this includes autonomy in areas such as the internet, finance, and national defense. An ally who cannot and dare not exercise autonomy can only live forever under the shadow of an empire, as described by Ian Martin.

Overall video: Lei Mingyu

Produced by the International Department of Xinhua News Agency