By Shannon Tiezzi
A trilateral meeting between Russia, China, and India’s foreign ministers reveals the synergy between those countries.
Analysts around the world (especially in the U.S. and India) are still buzzing about President Barack Obama’s trip to India as the chief guest at the Republic Day parade. The prevailing theory is that India is tilting toward the U.S. in its foreign policy, after decades of keeping Washington at arm’s length under the policy of non-alignment. But it’s important to keep in mind that a friendlier U.S.-India relationship will not automatically translate into a chill in New Delhi’s ties with other regional powers – including China.
As proof of this fact, a week after Obama’s much-feted visit to India, Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj met with her counterparts from China (Wang Yi) and Russia (Sergei Lavrov) in Beijing for the 13th Russia-India-China trilateral foreign ministers’ meeting. The joint statement issued after their meeting agreed that the three countries “need to further strengthen coordination on global issues and practical cooperation.”
The joint statement highlights several areas where Indian, Russian, and Chinese interests continue to converge in ways the U.S. would not approve of. First and foremost, all three countries are keen to see the international order reconfigured to provide rising powers with more voice. “Russia, India and China are determined to build a more just, fair and stable international political and economic order,” the statement said. As a dominant voice in the current system, the U.S. has so far resisted reforms to existing structures, including financial bodies such as the World Bank and IMF.
Read the full story at The Diplomat