Russia’s fresh bid to revive a strategic triangle with China and India as a counterbalance to the Western-led international order faces headwinds given the deep-seated distrust between the two Asian powers, according to observers.
However, United States President Donald Trump and his aggressive and unpredictable policies could be the catalyst to bring the three together, one analyst says.
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Xi Jinping says China, Russia have ‘special responsibility’ to stand up to power politics
Xi Jinping says China, Russia have ‘special responsibility’ to stand up to power politics
“Now that India and the People’s Republic of China are reaching an understanding on de-escalating tensions along their shared border, the moment has arrived to revitalise RIC,” Russia’s top diplomat said at a Eurasian security forum in the Russian city of Perm last week, referring to the Russia-India-China framework.
Russia brokered two high-level meetings between senior defence and foreign policy officials of China and India months after their countries’ border conflict broke out in 2020, a move that highlighted Moscow’s influence within the RIC mechanism.
Russian President Vladimir Putin also tried to push for a leaders’ summit of the two countries when he had separate talks with his Chinese and Indian counterparts in December 2021, before his country invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
