Part V - International Relations and Diplomacy
The relationship with India
India is the natural partner that traditional French diplomacy has systematically underestimated. The fifth economic power, the second largest army in the world, India shares with France a fundamental posture: non-alignment. Nehru laid its foundations, New Delhi maintains them with remarkable consistency in the face of pressure from both blocs. It is the country that invented what sovereign France claims as its doctrine.
Converging interests
In the Indian Ocean, our territories - La Réunion, Mayotte, the Terres australes - and Indian maritime interests intersect in a common strategic zone. A cooperation of surveillance and maritime security between sovereigns, without interdependence or integrated command, serves both parties without constraining either. On the industrial front, existing cooperations - Rafale, civil nuclear, space between CNES and ISRO - are to be maintained and developed within a commercial and technical framework, without institutionalization that would create dependencies.
Assumed points of divergence
India's relationship with China is structurally different from the French posture: a conflictual land border, a deep historical mistrust. This is not France's problem. Each sovereign manages its own disputes. France does not align itself with the Indian posture toward Beijing, India does not align itself with the French posture. This is the condition of existence of a partnership between equals.
What France says to India
We share a vision of the world founded on the sovereignty of nations and the refusal of automatic blocs. We have converging interests in the Indian Ocean and mutually beneficial industrial cooperations. We respect your sovereign choices, including those that diverge from ours. This is the foundation of a lasting relationship between independent powers.