France has several compelling reasons for pampering its strategic alliance with India, beyond the fact that it is the most populous country on the planet and with enormous potential for economic growth. Paris needs New Delhi for support in the Asia-Pacific region – where French territories such as Mayotte, Réunion, New Caledonia and French Polynesia still exist – and to offset China’s growing influence. The Indians are also big buyers of French arms, and on Thursday they announced their willingness to buy another 26 Rafale fighter-bombers and three submarines.
The presence of the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, as a guest of honor at the traditional military parade on July 14 – Bastille Day, a national holiday – consolidates a close bond that has existed between the two countries for 25 years. The parade on the Champs Elysees began with the passage of 240 Indian soldiers from the Punjab regiment, the same one that sent 9,000 fighters to France in 1916, during World War I.
Macron already had dinner with Modi – a vegetarian menu – on Thursday, and on Friday he received him again at the Élysée for an official meeting. In the evening, the host treated his guest to a gala dinner at the Louvre Museum with a hundred guests. There was no shortage of very careful gifts. The French president gave the Indian leader an exact replica of Charlemagne’s chess set: Modi is a big fan of boards.
In a statement to the press – without the possibility of questions – Macron spoke of a “historic relationship of trust”, of “convergence” on the global scene in search of “a fair international order” and of avoiding “the risk of fragmentation”.
Modi described France as India’s “natural partner” in its development process and listed the multiple fields of cooperation – from military to environmental – in the bilateral “road map” for the next 25 years.
Modi’s visit is not well received by French left-wing parties and human rights NGOs. They consider it inappropriate for Macron to offer such exquisite treatment to an ultranationalist leader whom they reproach for a regressive social policy and little respect for non-Hindu ethnic minorities.
But interest is interest. The purchase of more Rafale aircraft by India is of vital importance to France. For geopolitical or technological compatibility reasons, the manufacturer Dassault finds it extremely difficult to sell these sophisticated devices to NATO allies –except Greece and Croatia–, as they all end up opting for US fighter-bombers like the F-35. Even Switzerland did it recently. Paris, however, wants to maintain its own production of all kinds of weapons as a guarantee of its independence. For this production to be minimally profitable, in the case of the Rafale, it is necessary for non-European countries such as India, Egypt, Qatar and the Emirates to acquire them. France is, incidentally, the second largest supplier of arms to India after Russia.
Modi still had time, during his stay in Paris, to hold a meeting with 4,000 members of the Indian diaspora in Europe, who listened to him enthusiastically, on Thursday, in a musical auditorium next to the Seine.
