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France, which has always enjoyed democracy, freedom and republic tradition, prefers multipolarization of the world politics to the US unilateralism, a prominent French political analyst said on Monday.
In an interview with Xinhua, Professor Pierre Hassner, honorary director of the Research Department of the Paris-based Research Center for International Issues, known as CERI, said that there exist many differences between France and the United States over the issue of new political order in the world.
Historically speaking, Hassner said, France is the cradle of democracy, freedom and republic tradition, and it has always pursued equilibrium of power among world powers to ensure world peace and democracy, while the United States has attached much more importance to promoting its international prestige and standing through power politics. This stance has been strongly criticized by the international community.
He said only a multipolar political order could help keep the balance of power in the world and Europe should be a key polar in this regard.
Public opinion noted that with the US-led war on Iraq going on,France appeared to have an intention to restore its relations with the United States and Britain and to take part in the post-war reconstruction in Iraq. But this could not be taken as a sign that France has softened its stance on the Iraq issue, said Hassner.
The professor said France's anti-war stance has never changed, adding his country firmly opposes the US-led military operation against Iraq without a UN mandate.
He said the waging of Iraq war by the United States under its unilateralist policy was a "strategic mistake," which has weakened the authority of the United Nations and its Security Council and produced a negative impact on the relations between the United States and Europe.
He said the differences between Britain and Spain, which support the war against Iraq, and France and Germany, which oppose the war, should not be overexaggerated. France and other European countries are making diplomatic efforts to iron out their major differences so as to defend the UN authority, establish a new political order in the world and confront US unilateralism.
Professor Pierre Hassner, a Senior Research Fellow at the CERI,has studied the foreign policy making of the United States for decades.
(Xinhua News Agency April 16, 2003)
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