美国总统特朗普周五一早前往法国，跟几十名世界其他领导人一道出席纪念第一次世界大战停战100周年的活动。
特朗普此行正值美国跟许多盟友的关系紧张之际。法国总统马克龙警告说，地缘政治气氛让人联想起世界大战之前的情景。
在出席星期天（11月11日）的纪念活动之前，马克龙巡视法国一战时期的东部和北部战场，他警告欧洲目前面临的威胁时说，欧洲大陆必须创建自己的军队。
马克龙对法国的欧洲第一广播电台说：“我们需要自我防卫免受来自中国、俄罗斯，甚至美国的侵害。特朗普总统宣布退出80年代导弹危机期间的一项条约，谁会是主要的受害者？是欧洲和欧洲的安全，因为导弹危机影响了欧洲。”
法国官员说，特朗普总统的共和党在美国中期选举中失去了对国会众议院的控制，不会影响到法国跟美国的关系。
特朗普总统星期六（11月10日）跟马克龙会谈。目前不清楚特朗普总统会跟俄罗斯总统普京见面的传言是否属实。
之后特朗普将访问贝勒森林，那里是一战期间美军最惨烈的战场之一。当时有1800多名美国军人在攻打德军阵地时阵亡。当时多数战斗都是肉搏战。经过三个多星期的战斗，美军在1918年6月26日攻占了贝勒森林。历史学家Jean-Michel Steg说，美国海军陆战队的勇猛是出了名的。
一战结束时，有11万6千多美国军人为了保卫欧洲而牺牲。其中1万4千多人长眠于阿戈纳森林美国人公墓，那是欧洲最大的公墓。
第一次世界大战冲突导致参战各方共有4000万人丧生。星期天在巴黎凯旋门举行的停战日纪念，他们将受到缅怀。
特朗普总统之后将参加在一处美国公墓举行的另外一场美国退伍军人节的纪念活动。
U.S. President Donald Trump departs early Friday for his trip to France where he and dozens of other world leaders will mark the centenary of the Armistice, which brought an end to the fighting in World War I.
His trip comes as relations between the United States and many of its allies remain tense. French President Emmanuel Macron warned that the geopolitical climate is reminiscent of the buildup to the world wars.
Touring wartime battlefields in the east and north of France this week ahead of Sunday’s Armistice ceremonies, President Macron warned of ongoing threats to Europe, saying the continent must create its own army.
“We need to protect ourselves from China, from Russia and even the United States. When I see President Trump announcing a pullout from a big disarmament treaty that was taken in the middle of the 1980s in the middle of the missile crisis which had affected Europe, who is going to be the main victim? Europe and its security,” Macron told France’s Europe 1 radio station.
French officials said relations with the U.S. would be unaffected by President Trump’s Republican Party losing control of the House of Representatives in the recent midterm elections.
The U.S. president will hold talks with Macron Saturday. It’s not clear whether a rumored meeting between Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, will go ahead.
Donald Trump will later visit Belleau Wood, scene of one of the most ferocious battles fought by U.S. troops in the war. More than 1,800 American soldiers were killed as they attacked German positions. Much of the fighting was hand-to-hand combat. After more than three weeks of fighting, American troops took Belleau Wood on June 26, 1918. Historian Jean-Michel Steg says the bravery of U.S. Marines is legendary.
By the end of the war, more than 116,000 American troops had died defending Europe. More than 14,000 are buried at the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery, the largest on the continent.
“Relations between these powers, they’re not always easy. And there are reasons for that. But when you get out here, where the people in these villages remember, there’s a great respect for the American soldier.”
The nearby “Romagne 14-18” museum depicts life for soldiers on the frontline using thousands of items recovered from the battlefields, most of them by founder Jean-Paul de Vries. His grandfather fought for four years on the front lines.
“What I try to show in this museum to the visitors is if you take off these helmets, it’s all the same. It’s all human beings,” he told VOA.
Forty million people were killed on all sides during the conflict. They will be remembered Sunday at the Armistice Day ceremony at Paris’ Arc de Triomphe, attended by dozens of world leaders.
President Trump will later take part in a separate Veteran’s Day ceremony at an American cemetery.