Chirac warns Blair of dangers of ‘a new colonialism’
Mr Chirac’s comments came hours after he stood alongside the Mr Blair at a press conference, where the two leaders stressed their shared goals and declared they would put their differences over Iraq behind them. But Mr Chirac went on, in a speech to the International Institute of Strategic Studies, to set out his own distinctive view of international relations. He drew clear distinctions between his view and that of the US president and Mr Blair, enunciated after their White House talks last week.
Mr Chirac pointedly stressed the importance of dialogue between Europe and “the world’s major poles” - China, India, Brazil, Russia and various trading blocs. And, after Mr Blair and Mr Bush espoused the spread of western democratic values as the best safeguard against terrorism, Mr Chirac warned: “We must avoid any confusion between democratisation and westernisation.
