Indian prime minister Narendra Modi attended SCO (ShanghaiCooperation Organisation) summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on 15 and 16 September 2022. While addressing the summit, prime minister Modi said that India follows people centric development model. India has over 70,000 start-ups and 100 unicorns. He said that all efforts are underway to make India a global manufacturing hub. He demanded transit rights for better connectivity and said that SCO nations in the region should be trustworthy, resilient and should have diversified supply chain. PM Modi said that food security is a major challenge and proposed millet cultivation to fight global food crisis. In response Putin agreed to supply Russian fertilizer to India.
India agreed to host SCO summit next year. Xi Jinping congratulated India and said that China will help India to organise SCO summit in 2023. Prime minister Modi and Chinese president Xi Jinping stood next to each other, while Modi and Pakistan prime minister Shebez Sharif maintained distance. PM Modi thanked Russian president Putin for helping India to evacuate Indian students from Ukraine. Putin extended his full support to China in it’s one China policy over Taiwan Straight and condemned US provocation. Both Putin and Xi Jinping praised each other.
Indian prime minister Modi held bilateral talks with Russian president Putin. PM Modi said that global supply chain is affected due to Ukraine war. He told Putin that it is not the time for war and stressed the importance of democracy, diplomacy and dialogue. Putin assured that he will end the war as soon as possible.
PM Modi also held a surprise bilateral meeting with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Erdogan will most probably be the looser in the upcoming election in Turkey. This makes us ask; did Indian prime minister Modi attend SCO summit as diplomat for Ukraine and western countries? Or, was it a leisure trip to Samarkand to share pleasantries with leaders from other countries?
The world order has changed since Russia invaded Ukraine. Turkey stopped Finland and Sweden from entering NATO for some time. Turkey is not part of EU. Turkey continues trade with Russia and it includes weapons, energy, sophisticated Russian anti-aircraft missile systems and is getting investment from Russia. In July and August 2022, Putin and Erdogan met three times. Turkey tried to be a negotiator between Russia and Ukraine. This is despite the clashes Turkey and Russia had over Syria in the past.
India is a strategic partner of United States. Quad members like Japan and India has economic interdependence from more than seven decades. India’s relationship with US remained good even when India purchased Russian S-400 missile systems against CAATSA sanction. US president Biden, prime minister Albanese of Australia, prime minister Modi of India and prime minister Kishida of Japan met in Tokyo for last Quad summit. North Korea responded to it by test firing three missiles. Now Russia is purchasing weapons from North Korea. China and North Korea are allies and we see Xi Jinping flying to North Korea with a team of doctors upon hearing Kim Jong-un is sick. China and Russia declared ‘no limits’ partnership to stand up to US. India has got to do more with USA, UK and their allies than with China and Russia.
Speaker of the United States house representative Nancy Pelosi’s recent visit to Taiwan escalated tension between China and United States. China started aggressive military drills in Taiwan Straight. US, Japan and South Korea conducted drills to defend against missiles from Hawaii. Japan decided to deploy long range missiles to counter China. US and South Korea resumed their joint military drills after five years. US offered THAAD( Thermal high altitude area defence) missile systems to South Korea. China opposed US supply of THAAD missile systems to South Korea. China started decoupling from US due to Taiwan crisis.
Russia conducted a major military exercise from Vostok. Over 50,000 troops, 140 aircrafts and 60 warships took part. India and China were among the 12 countries who participated in this military exercise. On 6 September 2022, Chinese and Russian warships fired machine guns into the sea of Japan in this show of strength. Russian president Vladimir Putin oversaw war games in military fatigue, sitting inside a military command post. On the following day, on 7 September 2022, the Biden administration approved a $450 million F-16 fighter jet fleet sustainment programme to help Pakistan in current and future counter-terrorism. On 11 September 2022, India confirmed that PM Modi is among 15 leaders to attend SCO summit in Uzbekistan.
Every country has their own national interest and geopolitical strategy. So buying Russian oil and gas, weapons or even taking part in military exercise hosted by Russia is absolutely fine. India is important for both Russia and USA as much as USA and Russia are important to India. But, SCO summit was a perfect opportunity for prime minister Modi to
initiate talks with Xi Jinping to end the boarder issues amicably and forever. It was the perfect time for negotiation.
How far United States and it’s allies will support India in the event of a war with China or Pakistan is uncertain, even if India were to stay away from Russia and China. Boarder issues with China and Pakistan is one of the major worry for India. It is worth taking risk, if it can help settle at least one out of two issues.
India’s foolish foreign policies can lead to diplomatic crisis. India is likely to be isolated by the world, if there is a war with China or Pakistan over boarder dispute in the future.
There isn’t any need for prime minister Modi to address Russian president as ‘your excellency’, which he did repeatedly. As far as I know, there is no such international protocol for prime minister or a president to address their counterpart as ‘your excellency’. When former US president Barack Obama visited India in 2015, both Obama and Modi said that they are close enough to address each other by their first name. So, Mr.Putin should do, or Putinji also should be fine because prime minister Modi was speaking in Hindi.
