PM MODI SENDS TRUMP A MESSAGE, PAKISTAN A WARNING, CHINA A REMINDER

 

At the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit in Tianjin, Prime Minister Narendra Modi strategically showcased India’s independent foreign policy. He subtly signaled to Trump India’s options beyond American approval, firmly warned Pakistan on terrorism, and reminded China that cooperation doesn’t equate to accepting projects undermining sovereignty. It was a carefully crafted stage to showcase India’s strategic independence, to balance tactical partnerships and to remind the world that India plays by its own rules. In the space of a single summit, Modi has managed to send three powerful and distinct signals - to Trump, Pakistan and China - that India will neither be coerced nor cornered nor compromised. The defining moment was when Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin travelled together in the same car for their bilateral meeting. Earlier, Modi had shared warm handshakes and even hugs with both Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the summit. These rare displays of warmth with leaders of two powers often at odds with the West were not accidental but deliberate diplomatic theatre, a spectacle that will make Trump squirm. The optics mattered. Trump, whose approach to allies has often been transactional and bullying, would have taken note. Modi’s body language with Putin and Xi conveyed that India has options. It was a subtle but unmistakable reminder to Trump that India is not dependent on American approval, and if pressured too hard, it can deepen ties with other global centres of power. At the same time, Modi did not allow this tactical show of camaraderie to dilute India’s core concerns. Addressing the plenary session with Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in the audience, Modi called for a united global fight against terrorism. The SCO member states went on to condemn the Pahalgam terror attack and rejected double standards in the fight against terrorism which was a big diplomatic victory for India. For Pakistan, the message was pointed and public. Modi demonstrated that even in a setting where India was tactically drawing closer to China and Russia, its red lines remain firmly drawn. Pakistan’s sponsorship of terror will continue to be exposed and challenged on international platforms, regardless of shifting diplomatic alignments. Modi also addressed connectivity and sovereignty. Without naming China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), he declared that “connectivity which bypasses sovereignty loses trust and meaning”. For China, this was a direct reminder that India’s cooperation at the SCO does not mean submitting to projects like the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which cuts through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Instead, Modi presented India’s own alternatives: the Chabahar port project and the International North-South Transport Corridor both designed to link India with Afghanistan and Central Asia. These are also seen as a challenge to China’s BRI play. “India firmly believes that strong connectivity ensures not just trade, but also trust and development. That is why we are working on Chabahar and the International North-South Economic Corridor, which will enhance connectivity to Afghanistan and Central Asia,” Modi said. He placed India’s vision of connectivity as one rooted in trust and sovereignty, not dominance. It was a quiet assertion of autonomy in the face of Beijing’s global ambitions. Modi reminded Xi that India’s re-engagement with China does not dilute its earlier opposition to China’s project of global dominance through creating strategic assets in smaller countries. Modi conveyed that India is flexible but not beholden. It can tactically align with China and Russia when American policies appear high-handed or coercive. To Pakistan, he said terrorism remains a non-negotiable red line. No amount of shifting alliances will alter India’s determination to expose Pakistan’s role. To China, he conveyed that tactical cooperation is limited. India will resist projects that undermine its sovereignty and will offer its own alternatives to China’s grand designs. Modi used the SCO platform to show that India can simultaneously cooperate and confront, align and oppose, depending on its own interests and core concerns. India is no longer a passive player in the global order. It is carving out space as an independent pole, willing to engage with the US, China and Moscow, but unwilling to be tied down by any one of them. By riding in Putin’s car, hugging Xi, calling out Pakistan and obliquely criticising the BRI, all in the same summit, Modi showed that India’s foreign policy is neither predictable nor pliant. It is anchored in the idea that alliances are tactical and can shift but sovereignty and security yet remain strategic priority. The Tianjin SCO Summit highlighted the flexibility as well as firmness of Indian diplomacy. Modi’s three-way signalling to Trump, Pakistan and China was a vivid illustration of how India is navigating the turbulence of today’s multipolar world.

Trumph Cornered

 Donald Trump, it seems, is making excuses for China and instead attacking India. The most hypocritical part is that it wants India to stop buy in oil from Russia, though the US has never stopped buying Uranium from Russia, and Europe still gets gas and oil from Russia. Ukraine openly declared it wanted to be part of the European Union and NATO, America gave it the arms and billions of dollars to fight Russia, even though the country had been part of Russia for decades. President Trump’s stance against India shows hypocrisy, as it is a well-known fact that the US buys Russian Uranium, chemicals and fertilisers but when questioned about it, Trump said he knew nothing about it! Russia has been a good and reliable friend of India for decades. It has supported India both militarily and internationally and given us defence equipment as well as allowed India to Make in India, by allowing technology transfers. America can’t subsidise its own farmers who are rich with extensive land holdings and expect to dump agricultural goods on a country where farmers have small land holdings and the per capita income is several times smaller when compared with the US. If trade is fair and benefits both countries, no one would object and there could be give and take but not at the cost of the health and well-being of our citizens. This is simply not acceptable. 

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Courtesy: R K Mattoo and  Spade A Spade,2025