The United States media has slammed the Donald Trump administration for “alienation of India”, saying Chinese President Xi Jinping is using that as an opportunity to reshape a global order which has largely been dominated by the United States.
“Xi can also thank the Trump administration for accelerating an easing of tensions between China and India, its biggest Asian strategic competitor,” read an article by The New York Times (NYT).
The NYT article suggested that the US alienation of India has drawn Modi closer to China and Russia.
Modi is in China to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit. This is his first visit to the hostile neighbour since 2018 and the deadly border standoff in 2020.
He will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping as both countries look to mend bilateral ties amid US President Trump’s imposition of 50 per cent tariffs on India.
“New Delhi has been frustrated by the doubling of U.S. tariffs on Indian goods to a whopping 50 percent, leading to calls for a rebalancing toward China,” the article read.
It said that the convergence of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Modi in China, along with leaders from dozens of other emerging economies “contrasts with the growing discord within the U.S. alliance with European and Asian countries.”
The 2025 SCO Summit, the largest since it was founded in 2001, is already being hailed by China as “an important force in building a new type of international relations.”
Experts believe that Chinese President Xi Jinping wants to use the SCO Summit as an opportunity to showcase how a new world order will look without America and Europe.