France and India agree to negotiations in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.

Paris and New Delhi "refuse a world where might makes right," French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said on Wednesday, September 14, on a two-day official visit to India, condemning the "war of aggression" of the Russia in Ukraine.

The head of French diplomacy, for whom this is the first visit to India and the first bilateral visit to Asia since she took office, met Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, the Indian Minister of Foreign Affairs.

A war of aggression

The minister said at a press conference that she had discussed with her counterpart "the war of aggression unleashed by Russia".

"What we have seen and what we must prevent from continuing is that an important member of international society, a permanent member of the Security Council, has chosen to trample underfoot, unleashing a war of aggression , and continues to do so at this very moment, all the principles on which the international order is founded", continued Catherine Colonna.

"France and India reject a world where might makes right," she added.

India, sourcing arms from Russia, refused, like China, to condemn the invasion of Ukraine.

In June, she nevertheless co-signed a G7 declaration pledging to "respect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of other States".

On the other hand, the South Asian giant has considerably increased its purchases of Russian oil, "from 2% to 12%", according to the Indian Minister of Finance, Nirmala Sitharaman, quoted by the Bloomberg agency.

The ultimate goal is to return to the negotiating table."

"Russia has difficulties in exporting, this is what must be taken into account in the equation, when we reason about sanctions, with a limit which will be based on the physical capacities for exporting to India (. ..) given the fact that there is no pipeline and therefore no possibility of delivering large quantities,” Catherine Colonna told AFP.

Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, for his part, once again called for "a return to dialogue and diplomacy", during the press conference.

"Among the major countries of the world, two leaders have regular contact with the two warring parties, they are [Indian Prime Minister Narendra] Modi and [French President Emmanuel] Macron," he added, "I think we share the idea that the end goal is to return to the negotiating table".

India and France have a long-standing strategic partnership, strengthened by regular high-level consultations and growing convergences in various fields.

Catherine Colonna underlined that this relationship aims in particular "to serve the international order based on the rule of law (...), our two countries are strongly attached to it, we see each other as a war of aggression".

Chinese "Assertiveness"

The two ministers also discussed the situation in the Indo-Pacific, where China's growing influence worries India.

"I believe that we share (with India) a very largely converging analysis on China's attitude, its militarization, its assertiveness 0 I could use stronger words, especially when we think of what has been made in the Taiwan Strait – and also very largely common concerns,” the head of French diplomacy told AFP.

In early August, Beijing embarked on a show of force in retaliation for a visit to Taiwan by Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, who was the highest-ranking US lawmaker to visit the island in 25 years.

According to Catherine Colonna, there is also "a common ground between India and France to realize that the block-to-block logic would be wrong, it is no longer the American logic, we distinguish ourselves by a more nuanced and multi-dimensional approach in our relationship with China".

Thursday, the diplomat will go, on the second day of her trip, to Bombay, where she will meet the main Indian investors with business interests in France.

With AFP

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