PM MODI EMPHASISES THE PRIMACY OF MUTUAL RESPECT ON EVE OF SCO SUMMIT

India is sending China a clear message ahead of Xi’s participation in the SCO summit, that ‘mutual interest, sensitivity and respect’ should exist if two countries want to maintain normal relations.

- T. BRAJESH

Days after US President Joe Biden’s red carpet welcome to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin publicly called the latter a great friend of Russia. The Russian leader heaped praise on PM Modi’s “Make in India”, an initiative that is aimed at reducing New Delhi’s reliance on countries like China for various products. In a telephonic conversation on Friday, Putin and Modi also discussed “several strategic issues” in what must have caused unease in Beijing.

“PM Modi’s historic visit to the United States, where President Biden pulled out all stops to welcome him, followed by Putin showering praise on the Indian Prime Minister, has China’s Xi Jinping in a bind. The unease at PM Modi’s global prestige was reflected in the statements by the government spokespersons from Beijing on several occasions,” diplomatic sources told The Sunday Guardian. Thus far, Beijing had depended on Moscow to widen the distance between Delhi and Washington, but President Putin has, in this context, refused to prod New Delhi too far, and has instead recently worked hard at maintaining the close ties between Russia and India despite Beijing’s frown at such bonhomie.