Macron gives Vietnamese students a lesson in 'impulsive' superpowers

France's President Emmanuel Macron is greeted by flag waving university students in Hanoi. - Photo: AFP

HANOI: Between jabs at Donald Trump's US trade tariffs and criticism of Beijing's assertiveness in the South China Sea, French President Emmanuel Macron warned Vietnamese students Tuesday (May 27) that "on the impulse of a superpower, everything can change".

Macron was in Vietnam as part of a six-day Southeast Asian tour, as he tries to pitch his offer of a "third way" between the United States and China to a region caught up in a confrontation between the two.