China and Philippine have been locked in a standoff over disputed islands and reefs over the past few years. Manila deploys missions to supply a small garrison of troops living aboard an aging warship that was deliberately run aground in 1999 to protect its maritime claims.

Calling the division of the world between the US and China the biggest threat to the world, Emmanuel Macron said the two powers’ competition for global dominance presented others with impossible choices.

France’s president called for a new partnership between European and Asian nations to protect the rules-based international order and avoid being ‘collateral victims’ of the two superpowers.