France aspires to be a bigger player in Middle East

French President Emmanuel Macron has invited Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to the G7 Summit in France later this month so he could meet US President Donald Trump.

As expected, Macron's move has invited criticism from the US, with Trump tweeting that France has given mixed signals to Iran and that no one except the US administration is authorized to represent the US. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, on the other hand, has dismissed the US' criticism saying that "on Iran, France speaks with total sovereignty".

France's differences with the US also show that the European Union's strategy on the Middle East is distinct from the US'. France and the EU both believe building a dialogue and cooperation mechanism with the region, and preventing a military conflict between the US and Iran, will facilitate peace and stability there. By contrast, the US has chosen economic sanctions, political arm-twisting and military strikes, instead of dialogue, to solve the perceived problems in the region. Many believe even a regime change in Iran is part of the US' Middle East policy.

The disagreement with the US on Iran prompted France, along with Germany and the United Kingdom, to establish the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges to facilitate nondollar transactions immediately after Washington re-imposed sanctions on Teheran.

As a EU member with perhaps the closest relationship with Middle East countries, France believes it has wide influence in the region. As a result, it has always strived to cultivate ties with the Middle East countries, and when it comes to weighing of interests, France's scales will certainly tilt in the region's favor.

Since the 1960s, France has been the main supplier of weapons to the Middle East countries with about 50 percent of its arms orders coming from the region. Besides, France relies heavily on Middle East oil. As such, its energy security would be compromised if the situation in the Persian Gulf deteriorated and the Strait of Hormuz was blocked.

Also, France has been the biggest beneficiary of the improvement in EU-Iran relations since the 1990s. For instance, Total, a large French costal energy development company, negotiated a deal with Iran in 1995. And the Iranian and French governments signed multiple cooperation agreements in fields such as finance, industry, transport, telecommunications, agriculture and tourism in early 2016, ushering in a new round of economic cooperation.

However, despite its $4.8 billion deal with Iran, Total was forced to quit the Iranian energy market after Washington re-imposed sanctions on Teheran. The US move has hurt French interests in Iran and the Middle East and its "maximum pressure" and brinkmanship have left France and other countries anxious, and hence the outcry from France.

France has consistently followed an independent foreign policy and played the maverick in diplomacy. It believes in multilateralism and pursuit of dialogue, and has proactively participated in the EU foreign policy-making to make France's voice heard more clearly. No wonder France often clashes with the US on foreign policy, the Middle East issue being no exception.

On the Middle East, France has always tried to play a leading role within the EU framework. Both the Barcelona Process which aims to deepen cooperation between the EU and Mediterranean countries, and the Union for the Mediterranean were spearheaded by France. France can also be seen mediating in various Middle East issues, including Syria, Lebanon, the Iran nuclear deal and the Israeli-Palestinian issue.

That Paris has extended the olive branch to Teheran regardless of whether it will infuriate Washington exemplifies its efforts to further expand its influence in the Middle East. And since France and Germany seem to be driving the EU agenda now that Britain is about exit the bloc, the moves France makes to further expand its influence in the Middle East deserve closer attention.

The author is head of the Arabic Language Department of the School of Asian Languages and Cultures, Zhejiang International Studies University.

The views don't necessarily represent those of China Daily.