Every once in a while, French President Emmanuel Macron has a fit of frustration over Europe’s lesser role vis-à-vis America on the international stage.  

Never mind that the European Union’s shortcomings in defense, energy security and diplomatic clout are of its own making.

Macron just can’t accept that despite its strength as a trading bloc, the EU is not a great global power on par with America or China.

On his weekend trip to China, the French leader vented his dissatisfaction with Europe’s lack of “strategic autonomy” — his favorite phrase when dreaming of a more powerful and independent Europe.

Amid rising tensions between Washington and Beijing, Macron warned, there’s a danger that “overcome with panic, we believe we are just America’s followers.”

Discussing Taiwan, he said the worst thing would be “to think that we Europeans must become followers on this topic and take our cue from the US agenda and a Chinese overreaction.”

He claimed Europeans risk becoming mere “vassals” of the United States if they follow Washington’s lead in standing up for Taiwan.

Macron believes Europe should instead be a “third superpower.”

This ambition is understandable, as the EU has the world’s third-largest economy, after America and China. 

So the French president is frustrated about the EU’s growing dependency on America for security and energy.

The Ukraine war has underlined Europe’s continued need for American military protection to keep the Russian bear from its door, while the United States has also been crucial in helping Europe cut out Russian energy supplies.

America has replaced Russia as the EU’s biggest supplier of crude oil, and liquified-natural-gas imports from the States doubled last year.

But these EU weaknesses are self-inflicted.

Europe was warned about its underinvestment in defense for years, most famously by President Donald Trump.

It’s rich for leaders to complain about dependency on American protection now that their own complacency has been put in the spotlight.

The EU also can’t complain about American energy dependency, given that it previously preferred being reliant on a malign Russia.

Trump warned about this, too, and Russia-friendly German politicians openly mocked him for doing so — including at the United Nations General Assembly.

Germany has long been the EU’s biggest drag on both security and energy, refusing to strengthen its armed forces and resisting nuclear developments that are the EU’s most practical route to energy self-sufficiency.

Macron is right to be frustrated with the situation.

But the EU’s problems aren’t America’s fault, and they’re certainly not the result of an American wish to make Europeans “vassals.”

They are the consequences of policies European leaders have, in full knowledge, chosen to pursue. 

Ironically, Macron’s “vassals” comment echoes Russian President Vladimir Putin’s claim that Western institutions like NATO are vehicles for American global dominance.

By unintentionally lending credibility to Putin’s false reading, Macron’s words undermine Western unity.  

Marcon’s pessimistic attitude toward dealing with Chinese claims on Taiwan doesn’t help the West either.

“Europeans cannot resolve the crisis in Ukraine; how can we say on Taiwan, ‘Watch out, if you do something wrong we will be there’? If you really want to increase tensions, that’s the way to do it,” he argued.

China’s leader Xi Jinping clearly doesn’t share these concerns about rising tensions in the Taiwan Strait.

As if to demonstrate the folly of Macron’s words, Beijing launched an exercise simulating the encirclement of Taiwan just hours after the French president exited Chinese airspace.

Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu warned Monday that a single misstep could spark an “uncontrollable war.” 

European citizens might agree that Taiwan is not their problem to solve; they wouldn’t see a Chinese invasion as such a direct threat to their own way of life as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

But a West that cannot defend its allies from tyranny, wherever in the world they are, would be a less safe place for all.

With his desire to wash his hands of the Taiwan dispute, Macron wants to have his cake and eat it too.

He wants Europe to enjoy all the upsides of being a superpower — self-sufficiency, economic strength and equal footing with the United States — without shouldering the global responsibilities that come with superpower status.

The West as a whole stands to win from the EU becoming more self-sufficient. But Europe can’t view this process as an attempt to rival America, which has guaranteed its protection for decades and continues to do so today.

Most of all, Europe can’t aspire to being a great power if it isn’t also willing to take on great responsibility.

William Nattrass is a British journalist based in Prague.