NEW DELHI: As France’s submarine row with the US, the UK and Australia turns into a full-blown diplomatic crisis, French President Emmanuel Macron dialled PM Narendra Modi on Tuesday to talk about strengthening cooperation in the Indo-Pacific and also boost, as Macron’s office said in a statement, India’s strategic autonomy.

France said the two leaders reaffirmed their common will to “act jointly” in an open and inclusive Indo-Pacific, in line with India’s relationship with the EU and the latter’s own Indo-Pacific strategy. Macron’s office added that this approach aimed to promote regional stability and rule of law, while ruling out any form of hegemony.

The two leaders also discussed the situation in Afghanistan. The phone conversation with Modi, and the French readout, was being seen as a message by an enraged France, for long seen by India as a reliable strategic partner, to the US and others who consider India one of their most important partners in the Indo-Pacific. Paris has also been upset that it was excluded from the AUKUS security pact, which the US has entered into with the UK and Australia, despite France’s strong presence in the region.

Australia’s decision to walk out of an agreement with France worth $66 billion for conventional submarines, and enter into a deal with the US for nuclear-powered ones, has been described as a “stab in the back” by French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.

Australia’s decision to walk out of an agreement with France worth $66 billion for conventional submarines, and enter into a deal with the US for nuclear-powered ones, has been described as a “stab in the back” by French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.

France said in its readout of the conversation with Modi that Macron recalled France’s commitment to contribute to strengthening India’s strategic autonomy, including its industrial and technological base, within the framework of a “close relationship based on trust and mutual respect between two strategic partners”.

The European Union has backed France, saying that more cooperation and “less fragmentation” is required in the Indo-Pacific where China continues to pose serious security challenges and France remains a major power.

Following his conversation with Indian foreign minister S Jaishankar last week, Le Drian also met his Indian counterpart at the UN on Tuesday. Indo-Pacific and Afghanistan were among the issues discussed. Modi and Macron also discussed the situation in Afghanistan, with France saying that “the authorities in power” had to sever their links with international terror, allow humanitarian organisations to operate throughout the country and respect the fundamental rights of Afghan women and men.

India said in its own statement that the two leaders reviewed the increasing bilateral collaboration in the Indo-Pacific, and the important role that the India-France partnership plays in promoting stability and security in the region. “The leaders agreed to maintain close and regular consultations, in the spirit of the India-France Strategic Partnership, which both countries cherish deeply," said the Indian government.