Before Quad, PM Modi & Emmanuel Macron speak as 'AUKUS' cancels French submarine deal

PM Modi on September 21 held telephonic conversations with French President Emmanuel Macron over the Indo-Pacific region as France deals with fallout with Australia over the cancellation of the USD 40 billion French Submarine orders. The cancellation came shortly after the announcement of AUKUS i.e. trilateral defence alliance between Australia, the UK and the US. PM Modi took to his Twitter handle to inform about his conversation with France President, adding that they also discussed closer collaboration between the two countries in the Indo-Pacific.

Australia unilaterally abandoned the multi-billion dollar diesel-electric submarines contract with France that was struck in 2016, and in a fit of resentment now, the French leader has indicated that Canberra can ascertain that pursuing any future negotiations with Paris is now "unthinkable".

PM Modi & Emmanuel Macron talk after Australia cancels deals over AUKUS

Emmanuel Macron's office stated that the two leaders held the conversation to chalk out cooperation over the aforementioned region and also discussed pertinent issues like the Afghanistan crisis. Earlier this month, France called on its ambassadors from the US and Australia after Australia cancelled its previous nuclear submarine deal with France. As per AUKUS, the US will support Australia in producing nuclear-powered submarines. 

Australia said that they would scrap an earlier 2016 deal with France's Naval Group to build a fleet of conventional submarines. Instead, Australia will build at least eight nuclear-powered submarines aided by US and British technology upon announcing a tripartite security partnership. 

"It is really a stab in the back": France's Foreign Minister 

While three leading countries vouch that the AUKUS alliance has been formulated with a vision of a safer and more secure Indo-Pacific, critics do not view strengthening of arms and military as a step toward a peace-keeping approach. They fear the militarisation of the 'Cold War' era.

Pursuant to the lost deal, France's Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told local media houses, "It is really a stab in the back."

China remarked that the AUKUS trio, wherein, Australia will acquire nuclear-powered submarines with the help of technology supported by the US, 'seriously undermines regional peace and stability and intensifies the arms race'. Additionally, the Chinese embassy in Washington blamed the member states of AUKUS for a 'Cold War mentality and ideological prejudice'. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian further denounced the alliance, deeming the trilateral accord as 'extremely irresponsible'. 

PM Modi & French President review Afghanistan & collaboration in Indo-Pacific region 

The two leaders discussed collaboration in the Indo-Pacific region and the important role that the India-France partnership plays in promoting stability and security in the said region, a press release from PM Modi's office read. Notably, the leaders agreed to maintain close and regular consultations in the spirit of bilateral strategic partnership. 

In relevance, the duo also deliberated on recent developments in Afghanistan. With the focus on ensuring basic moral and human rights of Afghans, especially rights of women and minorities, they considered the possible spread of terrorism, narcotics, illicit weapons and human trafficking that will stem out of the Afghan crisis. 

The development comes ahead of PM Modi's visit to Washington for the first in-person QUAD summit of member states of the US, India, Australia and Japan on September 24. 

Earlier in the day, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla had clarified that the QUAD has been formed to cater to the needs of the Indo-Pacific while AUKUS is a security and defence partnership between three countries. 

"AUKUS is not relevant to QUAD and will have no impact on QUAD functioning," he had added.