Macron warns against passivity in global ‘disorder’

French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday called for building a new world order and warned against remaining "passive" amid what he described as growing global disorder.

Speaking to students at Yonsei University during his visit to South Korea, Macron said decades of stability and established norms are now "up and down."

"During decades we had a so-called stability based on this international order and the few certainties we had, it's up and down now. We should not just be passive in this new disorder. We have to build a new order," he said.

Macron called for a system based on cooperation among "able and willing countries" that support what he described as a "coalition of independence."

"I think our objective is not to be the vessels of two hegemonic powers," he said, referring to China and the United States.

He said countries should avoid dependence on China's "dominance" and exposure to what he called the "unpredictability" of the United States.

Macron also stressed the importance of renewed international cooperation, particularly in research and science.

"What we experienced during the past few years is a sort of fragmentation of this cooperation. Some countries started to block some cooperations," he said.

He added that some countries had also begun to cut funding in key areas, calling it "a betrayal of the spirit of coordination and cooperation that we need."

"So we should stop competing for a while, and we should say how to build the right compromise and work together," he said.