SINGAPORE: French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday (May 30) that division between the two superpowers, the United States and China, is the main risk currently confronting the world as he emphasised the need for building new coalitions between Paris and partners in the Indo-Pacific.

Macron is visiting the region as France and the European Union aim to strengthen their commercial ties in Asia to offset uncertainty over US President Donald Trump's tariff measures.

"I will be clear, France is a friend and an ally of the United States, and is a friend, and we do cooperate - even if sometimes we disagree and compete - with China," said Macron, who was speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia's premier defence forum, alongside a two-day state visit to Singapore.

The French president said in his keynote address that Asia and Europe have a common interest in preventing the disintegration of the global order.

"The time for non-alignment has undoubtedly passed, but the time for coalitions of action has come, and requires that countries capable of acting together give themselves every means to do so," Macron said.

Macron also urged China to stop its ally North Korea from sending forces to help Russia's war in Ukraine if it wanted to avoid NATO expanding its role in Asia.

"If China doesn't want NATO being involved in Southeast Asia or in Asia, they should prevent DPRK to be engaged on European soil," he said.

Macron added that abandoning war-torn Gaza to its own fate and giving Israel a "free pass" would kill the West's credibility with the rest of the world.

"If we abandon Gaza, if we consider there is a free pass for Israel, even if we do condemn the terrorist attacks, we will kill our credibility," he said. "And this is why we do reject double standard."

Macron is following the leaders of China, Japan and other European countries in visiting the region in recent weeks, in a sign of Southeast Asia's strategic importance amid uncertainties on global supply chains and trade.