Tariffs imposed by the US on India for Russian oil purchases redirected Indian foreign policy toward China and Russia. Narendra Modi attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Tianjin, where Xi Jinping hosted more than twenty leaders. The SCO contains contradictions: India and Pakistan remain adversaries, China and India have a contested Himalayan frontier, and Russia and China compete in Central Asia, with no binding defence commitments. Public camaraderie among Modi, Xi and Putin signalled waning US influence. India asserted red lines on agriculture, independent oil procurement, and recognition of the Pakistan ceasefire. China gained diplomatic advantage as host of a multipolar gathering.
Donald Trump's imperial tendencies see the US president wield tariffs and sanctions in the expectation that America will receive tributes. Yet his latest move punishing India with 50% tariffs for Russian oil purchases once encouraged by the US has produced not submission but spectacle. It has sent India's Narendra Modi to China for the first time in seven years as Xi Jinping hosted more than 20 leaders for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin.
And it is in Tianjin, not Washington, where it looks as if the hinge of history is moving. The SCO is easy to dismiss: the bloc is a bundle of contradictions. India and Pakistan remain adversaries. China and India still stare across a garrisoned Himalayan frontier, though relations have thawed since last October's border breakthrough. Russia and China vie for influence in Central Asia. Unlike Nato, the SCO has no binding defence commitments.
But in geopolitics, appearances are important. To see Mr Modi, Mr Xi and Vladimir Putin smiling and joking is to watch Washington's influence fade. Mr Trump's tariff broadside against India makes Tianjin significant. Here was the prime minister of India supposedly the US's Asian counterweight to China affirming that New Delhi and Beijing are partners, not rivals. India's calculation is straightforward.
#us-india-relations #tariffs-and-sanctions #shanghai-cooperation-organisation-sco #india-china-russia-alignment
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