In Asia, France to work with Quad'

New Delhi: France, considered an Indian Ocean-rim country with island territories like Reunion Island, is open to working in a “bilateral, trilateral or multilateral” arrangement with other governments, including the proposed Quadrilateral countries (India, US, Japan and Australia), in the Asia-Pacific region, French diplomatic sources indicated on Wednesday.

France already has a strong bilateral strategic relationship with Australia in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), sources pointed out, adding that France is open to bilateral, trilateral or multilateral arrangements in the region. This comes even as French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian is scheduled to begin a visit to New Delhi from Friday.

With questions being raised by the Opposition in India over the Rafale deal, sources also said that Rafale aircraft’s performance is “outstanding” and that the “transparent” deal had been inked at “competitive prices”. France considers India as its “foremost strategic partner in Asia” and is keen on boosting bilateral relations.

During Mr Le Drian’s visit, the three important facets of bilateral ties with India —defence, space and civil nuclear ties, economic issues and cultural relations including people-to-people links — are expected to be discussed with top Indian ministers, including his counterpart external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj.

Incidentally, Mr Le Drian served as defence minister earlier and made several visits to India in that capacity. He will also visit Jaipur during his visit.

A few days ago, Japan had proposed the formation of a quadrilateral comprising itself, the US, India and Australia to boost strategic cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region. The proposal was seen by observers as a move to counter growing Chinese military assertiveness in the region. Following that, on Monday, officials of the four countries held a meeting at the Philippines’ capital Manila ahead of the East Asia Summit.

France, though a European country, is considered an Indian Ocean-rim country too since it has island territories in the area. Of these, Reunion island is the biggest.

On the Rafale deal, in response to criticism from the Opposition in India, French sources did not want to comment on Indian domestic political issues. But a French diplomatic source said, “This fighter jet (Rafale) has been selected for its outstanding performance and competitive prices,” adding that the acquisition process by India was a “fully transparent process” as per rules. Sources also pointed out that French defence companies are keen on “diversifying” the offsets in India as part of the Rafale deal which would benefit the entire Indian defence industry. French sources also said the process had in no way benefited “one individual industrial house”.

Sources also refused to comment on Russian media reports that the French defence industry was keen now on selling nuclear-powered submarines to India, terming these reports as “rumours”.