Monday, the leaders of Russia, China, and India got together at a major regional meeting in Tianjin, a port city in northern China. The le...
Monday, the leaders of Russia, China, and India got together at a major regional meeting in Tianjin, a port city in northern China. The leaders are trying to calm down relations with the United States.
IN TIANJIN, CHINA— President Trump may not have thought that a private car ride with Vladimir Putin would be as special as he thought it would be.
The Russian president, Narendra Modi, the Indian prime minister, and their host, China's Xi Jinping, put on a show Monday that seemed meant to get people's attention in Washington. They held hands and hugged each other.
The three leaders made clear views that they had held for a long time at this important regional summit in Tianjin, China. But the tone and timing of their embrace were hard to miss.
The West has long seen India as an important Asian partner and a balance to China. However, Trump's tariffs have been a shock to India. The Kremlin has publicly ignored Washington's efforts to bring peace to Ukraine, and Beijing and the U.S. are still fighting over trade, Taiwan, and global power.
In this tense situation, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meeting seemed to send a clear message in response to U.S. pressure.
A few weeks after Trump and Putin broke protocol by riding in "The Beast" at their Alaska summit, Modi went for a drive with Putin in Putin's own armored limo. This was a not-so-subtle act of defiance coming just days after the U.S. doubled tariffs on India to 50% as punishment for buying Russian oil.
Pavel Zarubin, a reporter for the Russian state media, said that the two spent almost an hour in the car together before going to have talks.
During the talks, Modi told Putin, "I always feel that meeting you has been a memorable experience."
The Russian leader called Modi his "dear friend" and talked about how "friendly and trusting" ties are between Russia and India.
Putin did say to delegates that the "understandings" he reached with Trump at their summit could lead to peace in Ukraine, but he didn't show much change in his mind and continued with his usual attack on the West, saying that the war was caused by their "constant attempts to drag Ukraine into NATO."
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"A disaster on only one side!"
Trump said on Monday that the relationship between India and the U.S. had been "a totally one-sided disaster!" He may have been watching from Washington. and told New Delhi it was wrong to buy "very little from the U.S." and "most of its oil and military products from Russia."
Indian officials had now offered to remove all duties on U.S. goods, he said. "But it's getting late," Trump said.
Keir Giles, a senior fellow at the London-based think tank Chatham House, told NBC News that "the message remains the same" whether the drama in Tianjin was planned ahead of time or not.
He said that Putin's strong relationship with other people showed what Trump was trying to build with Putin. He also said that the U.S. had "given India a real reason to look for friendship and partnership elsewhere."
Senior fellow for India, Pakistan, and South Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations Alyssa Ayres said that India had a reason to "mend fences" with China because of the bad blood.
She said that India and China have "lots of problems," but India is right next to China and trades more goods with China than any other country.
Xi, on the other hand, said that some countries were "bullying," which was a subtle dig at the U.S.
He talked about his long-held goal to question the global economic and security order that is led by the United States. He said, "We must continue to take a clear stand against hegemonism and power politics and practice true multilateralism." He also talked about a new "Global Governance Initiative" that didn't have many specific policies.
In Tianjin, we talked.
A lot of this port city in the northeast was locked down before the meeting, which was the biggest since the SCO was founded in 2002.
A lot of leaders from Eurasian member states, partner countries, and observer countries came to China to talk about trade, energy cooperation, and keeping the area safe. People and cars couldn't get past because of their motorcades. The area around the huge event site was locked down, and security was tightened at the city's train stop.
There were security barriers and police checkpoints all over Tianjin. The authorities were extra careful as usual because of a big military show happening in Beijing on Wednesday.
This year, the growing summit has gotten even more attention because of the chaos caused by Trump's policies and other changes in foreign policy. These changes are part of China's long-term attempt to challenge U.S. dominance.
For a long time, India and China have fought over the border in the Himalayas, trade disputes, and China's backing for Pakistan, India's rival.
Some problems, like Trump's tariffs, which have hit as high as 145% on Chinese goods, have helped people come together.
In this light, Modi's first trip to China in seven years and his clear friendship with Xi and Putin stood out even more.
In 2019, Modi happily shook Trump's hand at a huge gathering in Texas. On Monday, Indian media used his friendship with Putin as a sign of defiance against the U.S.
Republic World, an Indian TV channel, called it a "big diplomatic win" for India. Aaj Tak, a new channel, ran a headline that said "Trump's dictator vs. Modi-Putin's friendship."
In the wake of the summit in Tianjin, the U.S. embassy in India said that the relationship between the two countries "continues to reach new heights" in areas like "defense, innovation and entrepreneurship, and overall bilateral ties."
But Modi, Xi, and Putin all seemed to send the same message: they may not agree, but they are ready to stand or sit together.