China’s President Xi Jinping hosted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin for a summit on Sunday, in a rare gathering of the three global leaders where Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff regime is set to feature heavily.
It was Modi’s first visit to India’s longtime regional rival in seven years, and comes at a time when both countries are facing steep tariffs from the U.S. Just days before the summit, the White House doubled tariffs on Indian goods to 50% in response to India’s continued purchase of Russian oil.
The summit featured subtle digs at Trump’s tariffs and an effort by Xi to boost his global leadership credentials while Washington is engaged in bitter trade battles with friends and foes alike.
The U.S. has sought better relations with India for years in the hope that New Delhi could act as a bulwark against China’s rising economic and military power, but some analysts now speculate that Trump’s tariffs may have pushed Modi closer to Beijing.
Read more: With U.S. Ties on the Rocks, India Draws Closer to China
Xi told Modi that the world’s two most populous countries should see each other as “partners rather than rivals” when they met on Sunday at the two-day security summit in Tianjin, in northern China.
He added that China and India “must deepen mutual trust, and make opportunities for each other’s development rather than threats,” in what may have been a subtle reference to Trump’s tariff regime.
Modi said that “should pursue strategic autonomy, and their relations should not be seen through a third country lens,” and confirmed that direct flights between India and China would resume after a five-year hiatus.
A breakdown in ties
The Trump Administration has blamed India’s purchase of Russian oil for a breakdown in ties with the U.S. Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro has attacked India’s Russian oil purchases as “opportunistic and deeply corrosive”.
The tariff regime has caused anger in India. In his first comments since the 50% tariffs were introduced, India’s Trade Minister Piyush Goyal said Friday that India “will neither bow down nor ever appear weak”.
But recent reporting in the New York Times suggests that Modi’s refusal to accept Trump’s claims that he brokered a peace between India and Pakistan in a recent outbreak of fighting, and a refusal to nominate the U.S. president for a Nobel Peace Prize, may have been partly responsible for ties unravelling.
Modi’s move towards China might be seen as a strategic blow to the U.S., but the summit is likely aimed at boosting Xi’s position as a global leader and countering Western influence in global affairs. While the U.S. is engaged in trade battles with both allies and rivals, China is promoting economic cooperation with emerging economies like Turkey, Malaysia and Pakistan.
Putin said ahead of his visit that the summit would “consolidate solidarity” among the attending nations and “help shape a fairer multipolar world order”.
The Russian president will stay on after the summit to attend a military parade in Beijing on the theme of the Second World War, which will showcase the country’s latest missiles and equipment.
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