BRUSSELS, 22 September 2021, (TON): European Union foreign ministers expressed support and solidarity with France on Monday during a meeting in New York to discuss Australia’s scrapping of a $40 billion submarine order with Paris in favor of a U.S. and British deal.

Speaking after the closed-door meeting on the sidelines annual U.N. gathering of world leaders, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said “more cooperation, more coordination, less fragmentation” was needed to achieve a stable and peaceful Indo-Pacific region where China is the major rising power.

Australia said last week “it would cancel an order for conventional submarines from France and instead build at least eight nuclear-powered submarines with U.S. and British technology after striking a security partnership with those countries under the name AUKUS.

Borrell said “Certainly, we were caught by surprise by this announcement.”

The decision enraged France and in New York French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian accused U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration of continuing his predecessor Donald Trump’s trends of “unilateralism, unpredictability, brutality and not respecting your partner.”

The United States has sought to assuage the anger in France, a NATO ally. French President Emmanuel Macron and U.S. President Joe Biden are due to speak on the phone in the next few days.