No, the United States does not have the largest diplomatic network in the world. With 274 representations (compared to 271 for Washington), China is at the top of the latest biennial ranking established by the Australian think tank Lowy Institute, and this for the third time. “This does not mean that the Chinese are more influential than the Americans,” said Didier Billion, deputy director of the Institute of International and Strategic Relations. “But it recalls Beijing’s desire to become the leading world power, with a foreign policy which projects much more in the long term than that of Westerners.”
Chinese voluntarism has for several years already inspired the Turkey of ambitious President Erdogan, who has opened 24 embassies, consulates and other representations since 2016. At the same time, France has closed 18… Result: third place in the ranking , long occupied by Paris, now returns to Ankara with 252 diplomatic representations (compared to 249 for France, behind Japan, with 251). “The priority has long been to reduce costs at the Quai d’Orsay, by eliminating consulates and cultural institutes, and by opening fewer diplomatic posts,” laments Didier Billion.
The Lowy Institute ranking sends a worrying signal: on the international scene, France is regressing. It is therefore difficult to gain influence and convince other states that France, as Emmanuel Macron defends, can establish itself as a “balancing power”.