Xi-Modi Meeting Sends Some Positive Signals For Indian Foreign Policy

(MENAFN- The Arabian Post) By Nitya Chakraborty

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's bilateral talks with the Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sunday at Tianjin in China on the sidelines of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit have sent some very positive signals which may herald the evolution of an independent foreign policy of India voicing the interests of the Global South.

If what the Indian Prime Minister said at the Tianjin talks with the Chinese President is followed up to its true spirit, it is sure to herald into a new era of Indian diplomacy doing away with the direction of the last few years when India was seen by the Global South as the partner of the USA in its global strategy.

The most important outcome of the talks of the leaders of the two Asian countries with the total population of 288 crore, is the emphasis of both China and India on the concept of strategic autonomy and looking at both not as rivals but as partners. Further, both the leaders agreed not to see each other through a third country lens. This understanding can be a game changer for India and China in improving the bilateral relations to a new high. The only condition is there has to be trust between the two leaderships and the strategic autonomy concept has to be followed by both countries in true spirit.

Both Narendra Modi and Xi Jinping held such detailed bilateral discussions after a gap of seven years since their earlier summit talks in 2018. But the situation this time was different in the context of the current trade war against India launched by US President Donald Trump with his imposition of a total of 50 per cent tariffs on Indian exports to USA. This tariff is largest among the Asian countries.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's emphasis not to see relations through third country's prism is specially significant as the Chinese commentators are saying that, rebuffed By Trump, the Indian PM has started wooing China. Narendra Modi challenged this assessment by saying that this was a part of India's faith in strategic autonomy for each country and the right to have independent foreign policy. This has been confirmed also in the statement issued by the Chinese foreign ministry.

It is a well known fact that both border issues and India's membership of US sponsored QUAD acted as the major irritants to the improvement of India-China relations since the Galwan clash in 2020. Now on border, Xi said at the meeting that both countries should not let the border issue define the overall relationship. Both countries must handle ties from a strategic and long term perspective. Indian PM must have found this approach of Chinese President quite pragmatic. Otherwise India would not have agreed to start direct air flights to China and making tourist visas more easier for the Chinese residents.

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There is another victory point of the Indian Prime Minister relating to fight against terrorism. Chinese President was candid in condemning the Pahalgam killings and extending support to India's fight against terrorism. The SCO declaration also mentioned Pahalgam killings and called for action against the perpetrators. The SCO naturally did not mention of Pakistan, but the tone of the SCO resolution was far stronger compared to the SCO defence minister's declaration where Pahalgam was not mentioned but Balochistan killings were taken note of. Indian defence minister Rajnath Singh refused to sign that declaration. The change in SCO declaration in favour of India now was due to the efforts of the Indian PM who had far more bigger stature compared to the Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif who was also present at SCO meet as a full member.

The main thrust is that if the spirit shown in the Xi-Modi talks is followed up, the other areas like more investments by China in India and allowing India to import more to China can be easily tackled at official level. The domestic market of both these countries are so vast that ways can be found out for collaboration in ensuring that China gets benefit through more investments and India through more exports to China to take care of a part of its trade shock from USA.

But what about India and QUAD? This irritant for China remains. This is all due to Modi's personal tilt in favour of USA during the first regime of Donald Trump. The QUAD summit is scheduled to be hosted by Narendra Modi in India this year and originally Trump was supposed to visit Delhi for that. But latest reports from Washington indicate that Trump may not come to Delhi and even there is uncertainty about Modi hosting it in view of Indian PM's present bitter relations with the U.S. President. There is a possibility of QUAD summit being shifted to any other member country Japan or Australia. If that happens, Modi will sigh in relief as that will relieve him from acting as a host of QUAD in India.

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Both China and India have emphasized on independent foreign policy. That way, India under Modi can remain a member of QUAD but still continue its relationship with China and Russia on the basis of strategic autonomy. But the US state secretary Marco Rubio as also vice president J D Vance ruled out any strategic autonomy for India when it was mentioned by the press in the context of Indian crude oil imports from Russia. So while Indian PM is talking of strategic autonomy, he is denied that by the USA at the moment. So what he will do to defend the strategic autonomy of India in the context of the attacks from the USA in the coming days, that will be of special interest.

There is another possibility but that is remote right now. Trump is a maverick, he very often changes his stance for unpredictable reasons. So if Trump withdraws the additional 25 per cent tariffs on India and become more flexible, Indian PM can respond to that. That will be a part of his strategic autonomy also. Will China still continue to nurse the same views on India as President Xi expressed on August 31. If that happens, there are many such imponderables.

But right now, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a winner. He has touched the right cords in India's relationship with China. The process of improving the bilateral relationship may start now and people to people contacts start. If the Prime Minister delinks himself from his pro-US tilt and frames the foreign policy on real strategic autonomy, India can have working relationship with the USA, China and Russia at the same time. This should be the objective and it is core of the diplomacy of a multipolar world which both President Xi and PM Modi are aiming at. (IPA Service )

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