The desire of the administration of US President Donald Trump to distance Russia, India and China from each other is not yielding results, the information portal Axios reports.
As stated in the article, after facing “tariffs and insults from President Trump“, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 1 “communicated much more friendly with his Russian and Chinese counterparts during his first visit to China in seven years“.
As the portal writes, “Trump is actively trying to drive a wedge between India and Russia, while simultaneously trying to distance Russia from China“. So the footage of the three leaders “literally holding hands in Tianjin is at least a symbolic blow,” the article states.
As Axios notes, the 50% US tariffs on New Delhi for buying Russian oil “have sparked outrage” in India. Modi has made it clear that New Delhi will not stop buying oil from Russia and has taken steps to improve relations with Xi Jinping, the article says.
“For now, at least, the Trump administration’s efforts to distance the three powers are not working,” the article notes.
The SCO summit, attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin and leaders of more than 20 countries, began on Sunday in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin. As Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Liu Bin noted, this is the largest forum of the association in its entire history.
Today, the SCO includes 10 member states: Russia, Belarus, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, as well as 2 countries with observer status (Afghanistan and Mongolia) and 14 dialogue partners (Azerbaijan, Armenia, Bahrain, Egypt, Cambodia, Qatar, Kuwait, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Sri Lanka). It is the largest regional cooperation organization in the world in terms of population, geographical coverage and development potential.