Jaishankar’s Visit: Russia-India-China Global Cooperation is Here to Stay

Enhancing coordination between Russia and India in various multilateral formats such as the United Nations (UN), BRICS, Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and G20 figured prominently in discussions between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during their wide-ranging talks in Moscow on Wednesday.

"I think that's a very natural interaction between two countries, which have such a strong and close history of cooperation," noted Jaishankar.

Further, the top Indian diplomat described Russia as a strong battery of a multipolar world order. He stressed that the current global order, seen to be dominated by the rich western countries, will have to change to accommodate the interests of countries like India, one of the fastest growing major economies.

"The global order will have to change, the international economy will have to change," Jaishankar stressed.

For his part, Lavrov emphasised to the joint press conference that the process of global rebalancing of politics and economics would only get stronger in coming months and years.

The top Russian diplomat underscored that an expanded BRICS grouping was bound to command more economic heft in terms of combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) than the G7 bloc, a process he noted was already underway.

Lauding India's G20 presidency as a triumph, Lavrov urged all countries to take New Delhi's lead in treating all the nations as equals, whether they are rich nations or from the Global South.

"The adopted (G20 New Delhi) Declaration reflects the balance of interests. This is an example of how to work in the G20, in other multilateral organizations, in the UN and in its Security Council," the top Russian diplomat said.

Explaining the convergence of interests on most of the bilateral and global issues, Ambassador Anil Trigunayat, an ex-Indian envoy to Jordan, Libya and Malta, told Sputnik India that both the countries stood for “global solidarity with mutual respect to confront the global challenges as well as for a more equitable global order”.

“They believe in multilateralism and a multipolar world. Like any other relationship, there is strategic convergence and occasional divergence of opinion and approach too on certain issues,” Trigunayat noted.

The ex-envoy asserted that both India and Russia valued their “time-tested and special and privileged strategic partnership”.

“Apart from the expanded and deepened bilateral relationship across perhaps the widest spectrum, both countries work closely in regional formats like BRICS, Russia-India-China (RIC) and SCO as well as in multilateral organisations like G20 and UN,” Trigunayat remarked.

The China Factor in India-Russia Relations

Many in the Indian strategic community have time and again argued that New Delhi and Moscow don't see eye-to-eye on their respective ties with China.

Russia’s economic and strategic no-limits relations with China have grown significantly since last February, when President Vladimir Putin met Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Beijing Winter Olympics.

During their meeting in Moscow in March this year, Xi told Putin that the current global changes haven’t been witnessed for at least 100 years.

“… And we are the ones driving these changes together,” Xi remarked.

At a meeting with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin Xi said that bilateral trade volume had already reached $200 billion in the first 11 months of 2023, a historic high. Most of the trade is taking place in national currencies.

On the other hand, India’s bilateral ties with China have been severely affected by the Ladakh border standoff which began in 2020.

New Delhi has said that bilateral ties between New Delhi and Beijing have remained in an “abnormal state” since the Galwan Valley clashes, which led to deaths of 20 Indian and five Chinese troops.

Russia-India-China Cooperation

Despite the Sino-India border dispute, Trigunayat noted that both the Asian neighbours have been able to work together in multilateral organisations for the larger good of humanity.

Reflecting on widespread Indian sentiment towards China, Trigunayat said that India has been “disappointed” with Beijing’s “hegemonic tendencies and disrespect for the mutually agreed principles and understandings at the border”.

“Hence a certain differential in approaches can be envisaged even with the regional formats in which the two work together. But in the larger context and on global issues, India and China have been able to work together for the larger good of humanity,” the former Indian envoy stated.

He stressed that India attached great importance to both BRICS and SCO in order to forge towards its global strategic objective of forging a multipolar world order.

In fact, Jaishankar expressed his gratitude to China at the conclusion of G20 Summit in New Delhi for being "very supportive of the various outcomes".

Lieutenant General Ravi Sawhney, who retired as the Deputy Chief of the Indian Army, told Sputnik India that New Delhi’s cooperation with China in multilateral formats has continued in spite of “a very serious problem” at the Ladakh border.

Sawhney, a Senior Fellow and Center Head for National Security and Strategic Studies and Neighbourhood Studies and Internal Security Studies at New Delhi-based think tank Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF) stated that the RIC, an exclusive grouping of the three Eurasian powers, still remained very much functional.

The last leadership meeting of the group was held in Argentina in 2018. The foreign ministers of the RIC last met in 2021 in virtual format.

Sawhney credited Russia for “skilfully navigating” its ties with both India and China.

“Russia has cultivated a very close relationship with China, which has many different strands. However, Russia has always been mindful of Indian sensitivities. They have always made sure that they haven’t acted against the interests of India in this triangular relationship,” the think-tanker stated.

He said that India also understood Russia’s position in having close ties with China, particularly since the start of the Ukraine conflict.

The Army veteran also appreciated Moscow for not letting the Ukraine conflict affect its defence cooperation with India.

"Russia will continue to remain an important defence partner for us. Around 60 percent of imports in all the three services are of Russian-origin,” Sawhney highlighted.

Message out of Jaishankar’s Russia Visit

Sawhney stated that the visit by the Indian foreign minister to Moscow has firmly reinforced the fact that New Delhi would continue to exercise its “strategic autonomy” and would never be part of any camp or alliance.

“We have a very close relationship with Russia. At the same time, we have close ties with the US,” the veteran noted.

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28 December 2023, 11:32