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Event Report

A webinar on the topic France, Indo-Pacific and the AUKUS was hosted by National Institute for International Cooperation and Engagement (NIICE). The lecture was delivered by Pierre Morcos, diplomat in the French Foreign Service and a visiting fellow in Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The speaker gives an insight into why the Indo-Pacific region is important for France. He highlighted that France defines itself as an Indo-Pacific nation as they have overseas territory across the region. In the Pacific Ocean, the French territories include islands such as New Caledonia and French Polynesia. In the Indian Ocean, the territories include islands such as Mayotte and Reunion. This gives France a human, geographical and economic connection with the region. He highlighted the fact that these overseas islands of France are home to 1.6 Million French nationals and these islands provide France with the second largest Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the world.

The second aspect which touched upon was the French strategy for the Indo-Pacific. The French embraced the Indo-Pacific concept in 2018. According to the speaker, the embracing of the concept of Indo-Pacific by France signaled two things. First, France has a broad vision of the region and views the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean as interconnected or as a continuum. Second is that France prioritizes stability in the region. France has 7000 troops deployed permanently in the region which is more than the French troops deployed in Sahel because growing rivalry between Washington and Beijing in the Indo-Pacific region especially in the context where there is no real regional architecture in the region which can help in de-escalation.

The speaker highlights that France promotes a stable rules based and open Indo-Pacific which is similar to the definition of India, Japan and Australia. For this stable rule based and open Indo-Pacific the French strategy is divided into three dimensions that are: 1. To improve military balance in the region and balance China's growing assertiveness across the region 2. Promoting multilateralism across the region to offer an alternative model and 3. To promote the role of Europeans in the region. France also engages with many countries in the region and has a strategic partnership with many actors. Some of the French partners include India, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore and South Korea etc. To improve the military balance in the region, France has gone into strategic partnership including in Arms Corporation and participating in different military activities. An example provided by Arms Corporation was of India buying 36 Rafale fighter jets. France is also a participant in enhanced information sharing and in joint maritime exercises.

The third aspect of the lecture concentrated on AUKUS and the diplomatic fallout France had with the three countries namely Australia, United Kingdom and the United States due to the formation of this trilateral security pact. The deal between France and Australia was signed in 2016 and was part of a broader strategic partnership between them. It includes dimensions such as information sharing, sharing of technologies and transfer of mutual access to each country’s naval bases. The speaker also highlighted the exclusive aspect of AUKUS. He also questioned the actual value added to Australia apart from the geo-political fact that now Australia could signal to China that it has a strong alliance with America. The speaker also laid the burden to repair the trust lost in the relationship between France and the AUKUS countries solely on the AUKUS countries. Further, he emphasized on new beginning being made between France and the United States after President Biden recognized that things should have been handled differently.

Prepared by Shashwat Bharadwaj, Intern at NIICE, Nepal