Emmanuel Macron has accused former prime minister Scott Morrison of provoking "nuclear confrontation" with China, as a result of his decision to scrap the $90 billion French submarine contract.
The French president launched the attack less than a day after meeting Mr Morrison's successor Anthony Albanese on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali.
President Macron is still smarting from Mr Morrison's decision to tear up the deal with French shipbuilder Naval Group in September last year, after Australia joined the United States and the United Kingdom in the AUKUS defence and security pact.
Part of the deal is the acquisition of nuclear submarine technology, with Australia currently weighing up whether it will choose the British or American model.
Speaking in Thailand ahead of the APEC Summit, President Macron said his country had been helping Australia achieve "freedom and sovereignty" through the submarine deal.
"We were helping and accompanying Australia in building a submarine fleet in-house, an industrial cooperation," he said.
"So it was both industrial cooperation and giving sovereignty to Australia, because they will maintain the submarines themselves, and it is not confrontational to China because they are not nuclear-powered submarines.
"But the choice made by [former] prime minister Morrison was the opposite, re-entering into nuclear confrontation, making himself completely dependent by deciding to equip themselves [with a] submarine fleet that the Australians are incapable of producing and maintaining in-house."
Mr Macron's character assessments of Mr Morrison are well documented.
At the G20 Summit in Rome last year, shortly after the AUKUS pact was announced, the French leader was asked whether he believed Mr Morrison lied to him about the ongoing viability of the Naval Group contract.
"I don't think, I know," President Macron replied.
Since the May election, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has attempted to repair ties with the Elysée Palace, making a quick trip to Paris to meet Mr Macron and apologise.
While backing the AUKUS deal, Mr Albanese has long maintained the way in which the French government was informed of the decision to scrap the submarine contract was negligent.
On Wednesday night, Mr Albanese and President Macron met in Bali — warmly shaking hands, and noting their commitment to maintaining defence ties in the Pacific.
China has previously criticised the AUKUS deal, warning it will only serve to inflame tensions in the Asia Pacific region.
But the prime minister said it was not on the topics for discussion in his meeting with President Xi on Tuesday night — the first formal meeting between an Australian prime minister and the Chinese leader since 2016.
