Driven by pursuit of strategic autonomy, Modi, Macron take India-France ties to new heights

India is all set to host French President Emmanuel Macron as the chief guest of its 75th Republic Day Parade. Macron is the fifth French President to grace the occasion. Before him, Jacques Chirac, Valery Giscard d’Estaing, Nicolas Sarkozy, and François Hollande were the other presidents who were invited by India as the chief guests on Republic Day. France has also extended a similar honour to top Indian leaders, with former prime minister Manmohan Singh and current PM Narendra Modi getting invited for their Bastille Day Parade in 2009 and 2023, respectively. The friendship between the two countries goes a long way, with France establishing diplomatic relations with India immediately after its independence in 1947. Many people are not aware of this, but France was one of the first countries to undertake nuclear cooperation with India, which predates even the 2008 civil nuclear agreement. During the Cold War, when the British and the Americans were heavily censoring nuclear power-related information, France gave India technical know-how in return for raw material as part of a 1951 treaty between them. In 1998, both countries entered into a strategic partnership, which completed 25 years in 2023. Despite their long-standing relationship, it is only in the last decade that India-France cooperation has gained pace. Much of the credit goes to their defence cooperation, which has grown into a formidable one under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi and President Macron. Today, France is the second-largest supplier of arms next to only Russia, which is India’s traditional defence partner. In July 2023, during PM Modi’s visit to France, the two countries had inked an initial agreement for the sale of 26 Rafale fighter jets and the joint production of three Scorpene-class submarines. In fact, France has emerged as one of the leading countries to support India’s mission to indigenise defence production under the ‘Make in India’ initiative. Both countries are jointly developing a combat aircraft engine with an agreement signed between India’s Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and France’s Safran Aircraft Engines. Today, both India and France are seen as headstrong countries that have powerful militaries, nuclear capability, as well as an independent take on world politics. If India didn’t give into the pressure from Western powers in condemning Russia during the Ukraine war, then France under Macron has also time and again iterated its commitment to the principle of “Allied but not Aligned," much to the dismay of its partners in the West. In fact, France was one of the countries Russia could count on to hear its case, at least until a war actually broke out with Ukraine. At a time when other Western countries had declared Russia an outcast, Macron was also willing to play the negotiator to plead Moscow’s case. What binds India and France deeply is how each of them admires and values their strategic autonomy. The concept of strategic autonomy is a highly debated one, but it basically means the ability of a state to follow an independent foreign policy without being constrained by external pressures. It naturally requires a country to also acquire the necessary material capability in order to do so. Both India and France have a long history of pursuing an independent course in world politics. France, for instance, draws much of its lineage from former president Charles de Gaulle, who led the country during the Second World War and founded its Fifth Republic. The Gaullist idea of France’s independence of action translated into the concept of ‘Strategic Autonomy’, which formally appeared in a 2013 French White Paper on Defence and Security. Meanwhile, in India, the concept of strategic autonomy is often traced to former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s ‘non-aligned’ foreign policy, which stressed on India’s equi-distance from the reigning great powers in a bipolar world. Today, both India and France have leaders who are rewriting new chapters in strategic autonomy. At a time when a declining Europe is willing to free ride on American security guarantee, President Macron emerges as the rare voice that exhorts them to pursue an independent foreign policy. It may irritate the US quite a bit, but at least there is a partner who wants to be treated as an equal and is not coming to the party all empty-handed. The same is true for Modi’s India, which may be shamed by Western analysts for not sharing their sensibilities, but it is the independence of India’s foreign policy to pursue its national interest of a strong economy that will ultimately prove to be a strong counter to Chinese hegemony as against the fuzzy and outdated Western norms and values. India and France are in different stages when it comes to their relevance to world politics. India, as an emerging power, is getting a seat at almost every table, while France, due to its declining ranking in economic power, has to justify its presence even more, but France still has a lot to offer, and Modi’s India seems to know it too well. Their shared love for strategic autonomy is leading them to cooperate across varied sectors, which include the defence production sector as well as the theatre of the Indo-Pacific. France’s appreciation of India’s strategic autonomy has made it willing to help India in indigenising its defence manufacturing by sharing critical know-how. France was the only country that outrightly spoke about India’s exclusion from the global nuclear order as an anomaly. It was also the first country that welcomed India’s nuclear power status in 1998 and gave a patient hearing to understand India’s case. Even today, France is the only European country that hasn’t criticised India for not condemning Russia. It instead believes in India’s potential to bring lasting peace, something that Modi has also wholeheartedly agreed to if an opportunity arises. Both countries also have a similar approach to the security architecture in the Indo-Pacific. In fact, they have been old-timers in promoting bilateral and multilateral cooperation in the region. France has also always believed that India must get a permanent seat at the UN Security Council and has often spoken about the need for reform. In a world where India is regularly value-shamed by the West for not having the same set of beliefs to be a credible great power, France has always stood by India’s side, silently helping it build the capability to make that claim. The author is a PhD from the Department of International Relations, South Asian University. She writes on India’s foreign policy. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost_’s views._ Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.