Confronting India's China Challenge

Who can counterbalance Chinese dominance in our region except the US? India and the US are, therefore, both natural and strategic allies. The sooner we acknowledge this, the better

- MAKARAND R PARANJAPE

Let's admit it: the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska was a failure. As to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Shanghai, which featured, among other notables, Presidents Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, and our own Prime Minister Narendra Modi, not much was expected, especially when it came to India.

The SCO summit, let us immediately acknowledge, was more about optics than substance in the first place. The well-publicised bonhomie between Chinese President and host, Xi Jinping, and his dear friend and partner, Russian President Vladimir Putin, only underscored how closely intertwined their interests are. Who can doubt that without Chinese support, Russia would not be able to prosecute its war in Ukraine? China not only buys Russian oil—much more of it than India—but also supplies critical military and strategic support to Russia. In fact, before Russia invaded Ukraine, Putin not only secured China's permission but an explicit undertaking of aid. It would be delusional to expect India to join such an axis of power against the free world.

The Alaska summit, on the other hand, had a huge build-up, at least from the American side, what with Trump's election boast of an overnight end to the war in Ukraine. Not only is the world far from that promised peace, but Russia quickly turned the negotiation into a negation with a single word, nyet. It wasn't buying any of Trump's deals.