As Prime Minister Narendra Modi has landed in China; there are talks about "the dragon and the elephant dancing together".
How far will these go remains to be seen.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to China provides a rare window of opportunity for improving the bilateral relations.
The legacy has been hardly good. Both Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held several rounds of talks despite all that and two informal summits - the last one being in 2019.
“No mountain or ocean can distance people who have shared aspirations,” China’s President Xi Jinping said in July 2024.
On this backdrop Chinese Observers now say the two Asian giants are making efforts to manage their ties as "partners rather than rivals."
It is now being argued in several quarters that while challenges remain in bilateral relations, both sides have to go for pragmatic cooperation and looking for geo-political strategies and ensure global strategic balance.
On the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and India, it may be now time for both sides to 'implement' the important consensus of the leaders of the two countries.
Of course, the US has targeted India for buying Russian oil, the implication is that it wants India to "pick a side".
In China, analysts say the same logic was applied for 'drawing' India into Quad.
However, New Delhi's versions may vary. New Delhi was more than keen participating in the quadrilateral partnership among the US, Japan, Australia and India. In Beijing again - the refrain has been it was win over India into the US bloc for the so-called "Indo-Pacific Strategy" to contain China.
"Facts have shown that such small political cliques do not align with New Delhi's pursuit of full strategic autonomy," says a write up in Chinese's media such as 'Global Times'.
Looking back at history, India was among the first countries to establish diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China. More than 70 years ago, China, India and other countries jointly advocated the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, which remain a basic norm of international relations.
Today, as the "twin engines" of Asia's economic growth, key representatives of the Global South, and members of the SCO, BRICS, and the G20, China and India share a mission to push the international order toward greater democracy and fairness.
Their interactions and cooperation within existing mechanisms are aimed at achieving mutual benefit and win-win outcomes, which is a natural phenomenon in the process of building a multipolar world.
Now coming to Xi Jinping's 2024 SCO speech -- “No mountain or ocean can distance people who have shared aspirations" -- we have to look at a few critical issues. These rhetoric is actually based on an old Chinese saying. But there was a gap. Xi’s speech seemed over the top and divorced from reality because Narendra Modi gave the meeting a slip last year citing busy parliament session.
But one year gap is a pretty big time especially Donald Trump as US president was more than keen to play a global destabiliser.
Now much of the world is grappling with the chaos and economic uncertainty unleashed by Trump’s tariffs.
Thus for Xi the SCO conclave he is hosting will serve as a platform for him to project his country as a stabilising force.
With Russian President Vladimir Putin and PM Modi by his sides, Xi may prove himself to be capable of uniting the Global South to counterbalance the US in particular and the west in general.
The SCO deliberations and the talks on the sidelines will be important for Modi and Putin too. Modi is certainly getting global attention. Thus, it was not without good reason that Ukraine president Zelenskyy dialed Indian Prime Minister on a day he is in China and briefed him about his parleys with Donald Trump.
The US will closely watch Modi’s meeting with Xi in Tianjin. For his part, Zelenskyy knows Modi may meet Putin as well.
Since the beginning of 2025, international turbulence has intensified.
Mounting crises in the Middle East, Ukraine-Russia war and major shifts in US domestic politics and foreign policy.
Trump;s tariffs-driven policy has shifted from "supporting allies" to "transactional diplomacy," and in Indian case was extracting benefits at the expense of allies and partners.
As you sow, so shall you reap. It may work in diplomacy pretty fast.
ends
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