“Time is an illusion, Timing is an art.” – Stefan Emunds
Perfect timing is important for everything. Be it Cricket, Comedy, Chef or Diplomacy, a perfect timing seals the deal.
Indian Diplomacy under Narendra Modi has come a long way over the years. Be it slamming China in the SCO meet or Indian Foreign Minister S JaiShankar’s visit to Ukraine amidst Russia’s Pakistan love or talks between SJ and his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian just after the AUKUS episode. Continuing this “One Shot Two Kill” theory, India has again displayed perfect timing in starting communication with the France Govt and made the news of a defence deal public.
The timing of the deal has got more significance than the deal itself. Now “Back Stabbed” France declared to work with India to promote a “Truly Multilateral Order“.
Angry France, opportunistic United States and friendly India towards France – Prime Minister Narendra Modi is making sure that France realizes who its real friends in the world are. The conversation between the two foreign ministers came a day after France recalled its ambassadors to the United States and Australia in protest against the snatching of a 90 billion dollar deal to build 12 conventional submarines for Australia by the US. France is also upset over its exclusion from the alliance. India is yet to react to the formation of the trilateral security partnership. S Jaishankar reaffirmed India’s commitment to France. Jaishankar and Ledrian agreed to deepen their strategic partnership based on the relation of political trust between the two great sovereign nations of the indo-pacific. The two ministers agreed to meet in New York this week on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly to work on a common program of concrete actions to defend a Truly Multilateral International Order.
Now, that the US has ditched Paris, India is emerging as France’s most trusted partner. This will have many repercussions for the Global Order, none of which are good for Washington DC. France has also gone on to suggest that the AUKUS initiative will have a profound impact on France’s participation at NATO.
France is India’s strategic partner. France is a major defence exporter and has really helped India for many years now. While India’s partnership with Russia and the United States usually steals the limelight, it is France that has actually delivered India with actual friendship in strategic terms. Now India is returning the favour. The Indian Air Force is set to acquire 24 second-hand Mirage 2000 fighters made by Dassault Aviation in an attempt to strengthen its ageing fleet of 4th generation fighters and also secure parts for its two existing squadrons of the aircraft. India announced a new deal with France at a time when Paris has just lost a multi-billion dollar submarine deal with Australia really shows how New Delhi is trying to help Paris in its time of need.
India is also sending a message to the United States that Joe Biden should have had the foresight to create a Quad+ initiative instead of compartmentalizing its anti-China allies into various groupings. The Quad should not have been diluted in such a manner by Joe Biden. France too could have been brought into the Quad along with The United Kingdom. With such additions, the Quad would have become an even more formidable force in the Indo-Pacific and an anchor against all-devious Chinese designs in the region. Japan would have also agreed to that.
Understanding The Messege
The two-word phrase used by France “Truly Multilateralism” also has a deeper message for the US. There are a few “Truly” multilateral organisations like the United Nations or the World Trade Centre. But any multilateral group of nations headed by the US is not “Truly” multilateral. The United States does not support multilateralism as this would harm their image of being the Superpower Leader of the World. If they start to support multilateralism then every small, not so powerful nation also will have its say in World Politics which is not at all acceptable by the US. Joe Biden had cleverly framed the US return to multilateralism as a foreign policy for the American middle class during his election campaign. But now, Biden has himself made it clear that he supports multilateralism in only two dimensions – Climate Change and Democracy. Whereas, other dimensions like trade, economy, defence agreement, military tie-ups etc., the US seem to look towards a small group only. Which is commonly known as the “Anglosphere“.
Nigel Farage, the leader of the Brexit Party and former leader of the UKIP, United Kingdom Independence Party claimed: “the Anglosphere is back they hate it!” He even said that “This is the ‘Anglosphere’ coming together with a 21st-century solution“. He even mocked the French President, Emmanuel Macron by saying “(he is) throwing toys out of the pram” over a deal to supply Australia with nuclear-powered submarines.
In this scenario, it is quite obvious that this is going to have a long term effect on the US-French relationship. India and France have already made multilateral organisations like the ‘International Solar Alliance‘, an alliance of 124 countries initiated by India. The US has never shown any interest in joining the alliance. They are only interested in organisations that are headed by the US or UK and have the headquarters stationed in the US or UK.
