Following fallout of a France deal with Australia after the latter’s cancellation of a $40 billion French submarine order, French President Emmanuel Macron held a phone conversation with PM Narendra Modi on Tuesday to discuss cooperation over the Indo-Pacific region.
A statement released from Macron’s office said that the two leaders also discussed issues such as the crisis in Afghanistan.
Macron assured Modi of France’s continued “commitment to the strengthening of India’s strategic autonomy, including its industry and technology base, as part of a close relationship based on trust and mutual respect”.
Last week, France recalled its ambassadors from the United States and Australia after Australia cancelled its previous nuclear submarine deal with France. Australia had scrapped an earlier 2016 deal with France’s Naval Group to build a fleet of conventional submarines, and instead going ahead to build at least eight nuclear-powered submarines with US and British technology. Australia later struck a trilateral security partnership with both the US and UK, to which France called it a stab in the back.
China, in turn, denounced a new Indo-Pacific security alliance – AUKUS – between the United States, Britain, and Australia, warning of an intensified arms race in the region.
