TIANJIN, CHINA – SEPTEMBER 01: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin(L) and Chinese language President Xi jinping forward of the Shanghai Cooperation Group (SCO) Summit 2025 on the Meijiang Conference and Exhibition Centre on September 1, 2025 in Tianjin, China. (Photograph by Suo Takekuma – Pool/Getty Photographs)
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Generally one {photograph} tells the story higher than any communique or summit declaration.
A extensively shared clip of Chinese language President Xi Jinping, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin laughing collectively in Tianjin has already gone viral.
On the floor, it seems to be a straightforward trade between three leaders. However analysts say it displays a fragile mixture of competing rivalries and shifting energy dynamics.
Gautam Bambawale, India’s former ambassador to China, instructed CNBC’s Inside India: “The dragon and the elephant aren’t dancing as but. They’re simply taking a look at one another from reverse sides of a room and making an attempt to evaluate what are the implications of the connection between the 2? It’ll take time to convey the connection again on observe.”
The obstacles are clear. The border dispute between India and China stays unresolved for the reason that 2020 clashes. Beijing’s shut partnership with Pakistan — extending past financial corridors into army gear and intelligence cooperation — additional constrains how far ties can develop.
This week’s Shanghai Cooperation Group (SCO) summit gave the {photograph} its backdrop. The SCO is increasing in measurement and ambition, however as Jeremy Chan at Eurasia Group identified, extra prominence doesn’t essentially imply extra relevance.
“The SCO, whereas it is typically described as a safety group, actually does not give attention to army issues per se, and on the entire world conflicts which have taken place not too long ago, whether or not that is Ukraine or in Gaza, the SCO has basically been absent,” Chan instructed CNBC.
The timing of the assembly can be notable. With former U.S. President Donald Trump elevating tariffs and unsettling world markets, Beijing is utilizing the SCO to emphasise its outreach to the International South. Chan mentioned Trump is “respiration new life” into the summit, giving China an opportunity to border its diplomacy as extra reliable than Washington’s.
On Monday, Trump posted on Reality Social, saying that India had provided to scale back it is tariffs to U.S. items to zero. Describing the connection with India as one-sided, Trump mentioned the U.S. is India’s greatest shopper.
“The reason being that India has charged us, till now, such excessive Tariffs, probably the most of any nation, that our companies are unable to promote into India. It has been a completely one sided catastrophe! Additionally, India buys most of its oil and army merchandise from Russia, little or no from the U.S. They’ve now provided to chop their Tariffs to nothing, however it’s getting late. They need to have accomplished so years in the past,” Trump posted.
In the meantime, the photo-op has additionally drawn scrutiny in U.S. media. The New York Occasions described the interplay as a “smiling manifestation of a troika that Moscow had not too long ago mentioned it hoped to revive,” noting the optics of closeness between Modi and Putin, who even shared a journey to a gathering on the sidelines. The report argued that India’s historically cautious paperwork would possibly as soon as have averted such overt shows with China and Russia, however Trump’s sweeping tariffs go away New Delhi with “little incentive” to carry again.
Multipolarity, outlined in a different way
For buyers, the stakes are important. The SCO brings collectively economies representing almost half the world’s inhabitants, central to vitality and commerce flows. With tariffs threatening provide chains and markets looking ahead to indicators of fragmentation, summits like these are carefully watched for alerts of recent alignments, even when substantive outcomes are restricted.
For India, the optics carry weight. Modi’s talks with Xi had been interpreted as a reminder to Washington that India is keen to keep up dialogue with Beijing and Moscow whereas deepening ties with the U.S. and its allies. However New Delhi’s choice to skip the SCO army parade underscored the bounds of any thaw.
“India is utilizing this to opportunistically ship a sign not directly to Washington, that it has strategic choices, not solely in Beijing, but additionally in Moscow,” Chan mentioned. Modi’s fast exit from the summit, instantly after arriving from Tokyo, additionally underlined India’s continued engagement with U.S. companions in Asia.
On the coronary heart of the summit was a debate over “multipolarity,” Chan mentioned, including that the definition of multipolarity is totally different for India and China.
Beijing defines it as a system the place U.S. dominance is decreased, permitting China higher scope to say itself as Asia’s main energy. India, in contrast, sees multipolarity as affect unfold extra evenly throughout many international locations, with no single state in management, Chan instructed CNBC’s Inside India.
In the meantime, for Russia, the SCO stays one of many few worldwide platforms the place Putin is just not on the defensive, underscoring Moscow’s enduring ties with influential Asian companions regardless of Western sanctions.
The {photograph} captures all of this in a single body. The grins counsel concord, however the actuality is way extra complicated.
