France joins India, Australia in Indo-Pacific amid growing belligerence of China

India, Australia and France on Wednesday launched a new trilateral dialogue, signalling strategic convergence in Indo-Pacific region amid growing belligerence of China.

Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla had a video conference with his French and Australian counterparts, François Delattre and Frances Adamson, and discussed ways for “enhancing cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region”.

France has for the first time joined a plurilateral initiative in Indo-Pacific. India, Australia, Japan and the United States have already been working for strategic convergences in the region within the framework of the ‘Quad’ – a coalition of the four democratic nations relaunched in November 2017 to counter expansionist aspirations of China.

Shringla, Adamson and Delattre discussed economic and geostrategic challenges and cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, according to similar press-releases issued in New Delhi, Canberra and Paris after the video conference. They also touched upon the Covid-19 outbreak and exchanged experiences on domestic responses to the pandemic.

The move comes amid growing belligerence of China, not only along its disputed boundary with India but elsewhere in Indo-Pacific too: the South China Sea, the East China Sea and Taiwan Strait.

The video conference was held “with the objective of building on the strong bilateral relations that the three countries share with each other and synergising their respective strengths to ensure a peaceful, secure, prosperous and rules-based Indo-Pacific region”.

The three nations also agreed to hold the trilateral dialogue once in every year.

The top diplomats of India, France and Australia on Wednesday discussed “cooperation on marine global commons and potential areas for practical cooperation at the trilateral and regional level”, including through regional organisations such as Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), Indian Ocean Regional Association (IORA) and the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC).

They had an exchange on “the priorities, challenges and trends in regional and global multilateral institutions, including the best ways to strengthen and reform multilateralism”.

France has substantial geopolitical interests in western Indian Ocean and southern Pacific, with a large number of its military personnel deployed in the region. The French Government has territorial control over Réunion and Mayotte islands in the Indian Ocean and New Caledonia and French Polynesia in the Pacific.

While over 60% of France’s Exclusive Economic Zone is in the Pacific, over 20% is in the Indian Ocean. Djibouti on the Horn of Africa has a base of the French Army.

Though the US has been trying to expand the “Quad” into a “Quad Plus” by roping in other democratic nations to contain China, France has so far been an outlier – reluctant to join any plurilateral initiative in the Indo-Pacific, ostensibly to avoid making its strategy for the region look overtly adversarial to China.

It, however, now finally moved to join India and Australia for a trilateral dialogue, building on its bilateral strategic partnerships with both the nations.

India of late quietly added a military heft to the Quad by inking an agreement on Mutual Logistics Support Arrangement (MLSA) with Australia. The agreement is intended to open up the military bases of India and Australia for each other’s army, navy and air forces. India is also likely to sign a similar agreement with Japan. It had already signed the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) with the US in August 2016.

The Prime Ministers of Japan and Australia, Shinzo Abe and Scott Morrison, too recently agreed to expand military cooperation among the Quad nations to counter China’s expansionist moves in Indo-Pacific.