SINGAPORE, Feb 18 (Reuters) - The new French ambassador

to Singapore said on Monday that France and Europe do not want

their Asian partners to have to choose between the United States

and China.

Stephen Marchisio, who took office on Tuesday, said France

sees increasing pressure, "maybe more on the U.S. side", that

partners in Asia must make a choice.

"It's very important to say we can talk to everybody," he

said. "We don't want anyone to choose."

Marchisio was speaking to journalists at a luncheon in

Singapore, where French President Emmanuel Macron will deliver

the keynote address on May 30 at Asia's largest security

meeting.

Marchisio said the president will insist during his address

that each state in the region can defend its own interests.

"You can do that even if you disagree with the Chinese

political model. And you can do that even if you don't want a

military base from the U.S. on your soil," he said.

The U.S. embassy in Singapore referred questions to the G7

statement signed in Munich by France and the United States,

which said all members were committed to "a free, open and

secure Indo-Pacific region".

EUROPE MUST UNITE

Marchisio also said Europe must stand united - including

possibly avoiding U.S. weapons purchases - in the wake of

incendiary remarks from members of the Trump administration in

Munich in recent days.

He said that some countries saw defence-related purchases as

a way to gain favour with the U.S. government during the first

Trump administration, but that views had changed now, especially

after Vice President J.D. Vance's confrontational comments about

Europe in Munich at a security conference.

"What happened in Munich? He tries to attack the very core

of democracies," Marchisio said. "So it triggers another level

of questions."

Now European countries might not buy American military

hardware, he continued, because there was no guarantee that

doing so would ease U.S. pressure or antagonistic rhetoric.

"We don't like to say that, but ... we will retaliate if we

have to," he said, referring to tariffs and other U.S. pressure.

Marchisio added that the best-case scenario is that Europe

does not need to retaliate, as the United States and European

countries have many shared interests and industries.

Singapore defence minister Ng Eng Hen said at the Munich

conference that Asia's image of America had shifted.

"The image has changed from liberator to great disruptor to

a landlord seeking rent," he said.

(Additional reporting by Gerry Doyle; Editing by Neil Fullick)