Macron calls for world order 'based on law'

Pitches 'third way' amid US-Sino rift

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France's Emmanuel Macron called in Vietnam yesterday for the preservation of a world order “based on law”, as he started a tour of Southeast Asia, a region caught up in the confrontation between the US and China.

During a press statement alongside his Vietnamese counterpart Luong Cuong in Hanoi, Mr Macron said a rules-based order was necessary at “a time of both great imbalance and a return to power-driven rhetoric and intimidation”.

He presented France as a reliable alternative for Vietnam, caught between Washington, which is threatening to impose enormous levies on its exports to the United States, and Beijing, an important trade partner with which it is also embroiled in territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

After his arrival in Hanoi late on Sunday, the first stop of a six-day trip that will take in Indonesia and Singapore, Mr Macron emphasised a shared vision with Vietnam, a country of 100 million people experiencing stellar growth.