French President Emmanuel Macron will speak in the coming days with President Joe Biden in their first contact since a major diplomatic crisis erupted between France and the United States over a submarine deal with Australia, an official said Sunday. The phone call is at the request of Biden, government spokesman Gabriel Attal said, adding that there was ``shock'' and ``anger'' at first in France over news of the deal. But now it's time to try to move forward, he said. What the French now call a ``grave crisis'' erupted over the sudden, surprise end to a 2016 contract worth at least $66 billion between France and Australia to build 12 conventional diesel-electric submarines. Instead, Australia signed on with the United States and Britain for eight nuclear-powered submarines. France insists it was not informed of the deal in advance. France recalled its ambassadors from the United States and Australia in a sign of the seriousness of the crisis. Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian met Sunday with the two ambassadors to discuss ``the strategic consequences of the current crisis,'' the ministry said without elaborating. ``What's at play in this affair, this crisis . are strategic issues before being commercial issues,'' Attal told BFMTV. ``The question is ... the forces present, the balance, in the Indo-Pacific where part of our future is at play, and our relations with China.'' The deal by the United States reflects the American pivot toward the Indo-Pacific region, seen as increasingly strategic as China bolsters its influence there. Yet France feels the deal steps on its feet in a region where it has long had a strong presence that it, too, is working to bolster, in addition to a five-year contract with Australia. ``France is a country of the Indo-Pacific,'' Attal said, noting the French territory of New Caledonia, the French citizens living in the region and the French military forces based there. The Indo-Pacific is also an issue for Europe, he said. Macron will be seeking explanations from Biden about what led to a ``major rupture in confidence,'' the spokesman added. ``There was a moment of shock, of anger ... Now, we must advance.'' On Friday night, Le Drian railed against what France views as a betrayal marked by ``duplicity, disdain and lies'' in the submarine affair. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Sunday that France ``would have had every reason to know that we have deep and grave concerns'' about the capability of France's Attack class subs, which he said can't meet Australia's strategic interests.
