ASIANOMICS

🇹🇼🇫🇷France, Germany Back Overflight Rights After Taiwan Trip Blocked Taiwan President Lai Ching-te's planned visit to Eswatini was suspended after Seychelles, Mauritius, and Madagascar abruptly revoked overflight permits for his presidential aircraft, with Taipei attributing the withdrawals to Beijing pressure. The trip was replaced by a special envoy delegation following a security assessment by the Presidential Office. The French Office in Taipei responded publicly, stating that all decisions on airspace management must be grounded in safety and stability, and that overflight rights are a fundamental principle of international civil aviation under the Chicago Convention. The German Institute Taipei issued an identical statement on the same day, marking a coordinated European signal. The episode exposes Beijing's capacity to disrupt Taiwan's diplomatic access through third-country airspace leverage, a tool extending well beyond formal diplomatic pressure. #Taiwan#China#France @asianomics

🇫🇷🇰🇷Renault Targets Korean EV Expansion by 2030 Renault Group Chairman Francois Provost stated in Seoul that the company intends to expand its lineup and increase market share in South Korea as part of its broader Future Ready strategy, which targets global sales of at least 2 million vehicles by 2030. Renault Korea Motors is designated as a key manufacturing base for both domestic supply and exports. The company's Busan plant serves as a production hub for D- and E-segment vehicles and all-electric models. Renault Korea is reviewing the timeline for upgrading the facility to support EV production, with electrified vehicles set to account for all new models by 2030 — pure EVs comprising 50 percent of annual output and hybrids the remainder. To offer competitively priced EVs in South Korea, Renault plans to partner with LG Energy Solution and POSCO. Renault Korea posted a sales decline of 8.5 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, totaling 16,620 units, attributed to weak domestic demand. #SouthKorea#France @asianomics

🇨🇳🇯🇵🇫🇷China's foreign minister urges France to support its position on Japan Foreign Minister Wang Yi reaffirmed China's position on Tuesday on remarks made by Japan's prime minister regarding Taiwan during talks with his French counterpart in Beijing and called on Paris to "continue to understand and support" that stance. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said last month a hypothetical Chinese attack on democratically ruled Taiwan could trigger a response from Tokyo. China and France should enhance communication and cooperation, Wang told French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, who was accompanying French President Emmanuel Macron on a three-day state visit to China. #China#Japan#France @asianomics

🇫🇷🇨🇳Macron heads to China as Europe walks tightrope between rivalry and reliance French President Emmanuel Macron will travel to China this week for his fourth state visit, as Europe seeks to balance economic and security threats from Beijing with reliance on the world's second-largest economy during a time of global trade turmoil. Macron in the past has sought to project a robust European front in dealing with China, while being careful not to antagonize Beijing, whose growing assertiveness is testing trade, security and diplomatic ties, analysts say. Macron, who will start his trip with a visit to Beijing's Forbidden City on Wednesday, will meet President Xi Jinping on Thursday in the capital and again on Friday during a trip to Chengdu, in southwestern Sichuan province. His visit comes after a tense trip by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in July, when she said ties between the EU and China were at an "inflection point." #France#China @asianomics

🇨🇳🇫🇷China turns to France for support during its feud with Japan Top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi used a call with his French counterpart to say the two sides needed to back each other, underscoring Beijing’s push to win diplomatic backing during a spat with Japan. Wang said in the call on Nov 27 with the French president’s diplomatic adviser Emmanuel Bonne that Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi had “made provocative remarks related to Taiwan” earlier in November. Beijing and Paris should “firmly support each other on issues involving each other’s core interests”, Wang said, according to a statement from the Foreign Ministry in Beijing. “I hope that the French side will continue to firmly abide by the one-China principle.” #China#France @asianomics

🇨🇳🇫🇷 China seeks stronger ties with France in strategic dialogue China expressed willingness to strengthen high-level exchanges with France in a strategic dialogue between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and France’s presidential diplomatic adviser, according to a foreign ministry statement. Wang told the French president’s adviser Emmanuel Bonne in a meeting on Oct 15 that China is ready to deepen strategic mutual trust and promote all-round cooperation. Both also discussed the Ukraine crisis, the situation in the Middle East and the global governance system, the statement said, with both sides agreeing to maintain coordinated communication. #China#France @asianomics

🇺🇸🇫🇷🇨🇳US, France step up joint military satellite moves to counter China in space France and the United States are planning a second joint mission of coordinated satellite maneuvers in orbit, part of a growing push to sharpen allied spying capabilities as China expands its own military footprint in space. The operation would be the Pentagon's third known mission conducted in space with an ally following its first-ever joint maneuver with two spacecraft in orbit late last year, also involving France. The US Space Command conducted a joint mission with the UK earlier this month. Space is an increasingly contested military domain, as a soaring number of satellites crucial for communications, missile warning and battlefield intelligence face threats from the world's top space powers. China, Russia and the US have demonstrated anti-satellite weapons and launched maneuverable spacecraft, raising worries that an attack during conflict could disrupt GPS navigation or sever channels of communication relied upon by forces on Earth. #USA#France#China @asianomics

🇫🇷🇲🇾 Anwar’s Paris visit a success, marks revival of partnerships across all sectors, says Macron French President Emmanuel Macron has hailed Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s visit as a success, with the two leaders jointly reviving partnerships across all sectors. He said that the rapprochement between the two nations’ economies and shared diversification strategies were essential. Macron was referring to the newly signed project in the critical minerals and rare earths sector with the company Carester, which just opened a plant in Lacq; in transport, with the historic cooperation between Malaysia Airlines and Airbus; and also in the field of energy transition. #France#Malaysia @asianomics

🇨🇳🇫🇷China bristles at Macron linking Ukraine defense to Taiwan threats China criticized as a "double standard" attempts to link the defense of Ukraine with the need to protect Taiwan from a Chinese invasion - a thinly veiled reference to a speech by French President Emmanuel Macron in Singapore on Friday night. As part of a broader address on the risks of division between China and the United States, Macron told the Shangri-La Dialogue defense meeting that if Russia was allowed to take any part of Ukraine without constraint then "what could happen in Taiwan?". In a Facebook post, China's embassy in Singapore said that comparing the Taiwan issue with the Ukraine issue is "unacceptable". "The two are different in nature and not comparable at all," the post said, saying that Taiwan was entirely an internal affair for China. #China#France @asianomics

🇫🇷🇮🇩 Indonesian and French leaders meet for defense and trade talks French President Emmanuel Macron met with his Indonesian counterpart Prabowo Subianto on Wednesday in a visit aimed at boosting defense and trade cooperation. Indonesian Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin said after welcoming Macron that the countries would "strengthen their strategic partnership in the defense sector" by signing a letter of intent on defense equipment, the presidency said in a statement. The deal will include the procurement of French-made Rafale fighter jets and Scorpène Evolved submarines. #France#Indonesia @asianomics

🇫🇷🇻🇳 France, Vietnam sign Airbus deal as Macron visits Hanoi France and Vietnam signed a deal on Monday for 20 Airbus planes, among other pacts, as President Emmanuel Macron visited Hanoi seeking to boost France's influence in the country, grappling with threats of crippling US tariffs. Deals signed covered the plane purchase, cooperation on nuclear energy, railways, Airbus earth-observation satellites and Sanofi vaccines. Macron's first formal visit to Vietnam, the first by a French president in nearly a decade, follows US President Donald Trump's threats on Friday of 50% duties on EU goods from June that sharply fuelled tension with the 27-nation bloc. #France#Vietnam @asianomics