Beware of Entrapment: Alliance Politics and French Indo-Pacific Strategy.

In 2018, the French Government announced two strategic documents titled "French Strategy in the Indo-Pacific" (La stratégie de la France dans l'Indopacifique) and the "French Defense Strategy in the Indo-Pacific (La Stratégie de Defense Française en Indo-Pacifique). It mainly contained France's extraterritorial vision of the Indo-Pacific and underlined France as the "genuine Indo-Pacific power." The publication of the strategic document that follows a series of speeches by the French President Macron coincides with the height of the geopolitical contest between China and the United States that defined themselves as the "Indo-Pacific great power" and brought France, previously an outlier in the region and lesser power, as an independent key player within the contest. This situation raised a question on the consideration of France in forming a separate Indo-Pacific narrative and initiative despite its bilateral alliance with the United States and through the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). This paper attempts to shed light on France's strategic concerns, including its independent perspective in defining its transcontinental interest in the Indo-Pacific region, particularly in strategic sectors such as economics, defense and security, and maritime development. Consequently, this paper argues that, by looking into the French foreign policy tradition of maintaining its identity of being part of the West while avoiding a total alignment with the United States on foreign policy issues, French endeavors in the Indo-Pacific are designed to give France more independent foreign policy initiatives in the region. From its perspective, France also tries to avoid any enigmatic situation in the Indo-Pacific that might rise along with the upcoming great power competition between the United States and China--that may impact French national interest -- by trying to balance its relations with both superpowers while also spreading its influence independently to emerging Indo-Pacific countries, most notably India and Indonesia, by leveraging its mature armament industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]