Macron to China: Keep North Korea out of Ukraine war or risk NATO coming to Asia

French President Emmanuel Macron warned China that NATO could become more deeply involved in Asia if Beijing does not do more to stop North Korea from taking part in Russia’s war on Ukraine.

“North Korea in Ukraine is a big question for all of us. If China doesn’t want NATO to be involved in Southeast Asia, it should prevent [North Korea] from being engaged on European soil,” Macron said Friday during an address at a major defense summit in Singapore.

France has long maintained that the transatlantic military alliance shouldn’t expand its reach into Asia and led the campaign to block the opening of a NATO liaison office in Japan in 2023.

“I had objected to NATO having a role in Asia because I don’t believe in being enrolled in someone else’s strategic rivalry,” Macron said, hinting that Paris could revisit its stance.

North Korean troops have supported the Kremlin’s war on Ukraine as part of a military pact between the two countries, with Moscow using Pyongyang’s soldiers to try push Ukrainian forces out of the Kursk region of southwestern Russia.

Macron’s speech comes on the heels of an Asian tour that started with a marital dispute and took him to Vietnam and Indonesia, where France signed a series of deals, including on defense.

His trip is concluding in Singapore, where he was invited to deliver the keynote speech at the International Institute for Strategic Studies’ Shangri-La Dialogue, a conference that typically draws leaders and defense ministers from around the world. Among those in attendance this year were U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and top EU diplomat Kaja Kallas.

The French president also warned against the risk of nuclear proliferation and the potential collapse of the global order established after World War II.

Doubling down on France’s traditional mantra, the French president called on Asian nations to be “independent” from both the U.S. and China.

“France is attached to strategic autonomy, freedom of sovereignty. We defend this approach for Europe and for the Indo-Pacific,” Macron said.