Page 5 - The Indian EYE 091225

COVER STORY SEPTEMBER 12, 2025 | The Indian Eye 5

calibration.
India’s diplomacy with Russia,
meanwhile, remains one of its stron-
gest assets. In Tianjin, Modi and
Putin reaffirmed the “Special and
Privileged Strategic Partnership,”
marking its 15th anniversary this
year. From energy supplies to de-
fense cooperation, India-Russia ties
remain resilient even under Western
sanctions pressure. Modi’s assertion
that India and Russia have always
stood “shoulder to shoulder” carried
both symbolic and practical weight.
By deepening partnerships
across Asia while maintaining strong
relations with Japan and engaging
the West selectively, India is carv-
ing out space as a central player in Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and other Heads of States/Heads of Governments
shaping multipolarity. Its message is pose for a group photograph at the venue of the Shanghai Cooperation Council (SCO) Summit, in Tianjin on Monday. (@narendramodi X/ANI Photo)
clear: New Delhi seeks not isolation
from the West, but an end to depen- effectively “pushed Modi closer to that unity is far from guaranteed. Yet flexibly across multiple arenas. This
dency on it.
Russia and China,” handing Beijing the willingness of these powers to set makes India indispensable to any
an opportunity to present itself as a aside disputes, at least temporarily, multipolar arrangement.
FROM DOMINANCE TO credible alternative. to articulate a shared vision of global The US, however, faces a nar-
DILEMMAS The longer-term risk for Wash- governance represents a historic de- rowing window of opportunity. Ana-
ington is not merely economic. Plat- parture from past patterns. lysts like Waiel Awwad have observed
he rise of this multipolar world forms like the SCO are now openly For India, the balancing act re- that Washington perceives forums
poses the most direct chal- considering alternatives to the IMF mains delicate. While it strengthens like the SCO as explicitly count-
Tlenges to the United States. and World Bank, including a new de- ties with Moscow and Beijing, New er-hegemonic. If the US continues
For decades, Washington invested in velopment banking system that could Delhi is equally keen to maintain its with unilateral tariffs and coercive
drawing India closer, particularly af- rival the Bretton Woods institutions growing partnerships with Washing- measures, it risks further alienating
ter the Cold War, with the twin goals long dominated by the West. If real- ton, Tokyo, and European capitals. partners and accelerating the very
of countering China and gradually re- ized, such initiatives could diminish Modi’s recent Tokyo visit reaffirmed multipolarity it resists.
ducing India’s reliance on Russia. Yet American financial leverage, a cor- the vitality of India-Japan coopera- The West can still adapt. By
recent US policies under President nerstone of its global influence. tion, particularly in technology and adopting what Finnish President
Donald Trump appear to have under- infrastructure. This multi-directional Stubb called a “dignified and coop-
cut that long-term strategy. AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE diplomacy suggests that India is less erative” foreign policy, the US and
The imposition of steep tariffs on interested in choosing sides than in Europe could work with, rather than
Indian goods—50 percent across the he evolution toward multipo- shaping the architecture itself. against, the Global South’s aspira-
board, with an additional 25 percent larity is not without its challeng- For Russia and China, India’s tions. Acknowledging India’s leader-
penalty linked to India’s purchase of Tes. Differences among the key involvement provides credibility and ship role in Eurasia and the broader
Russian crude—has strained the rela- players—India, Russia, and China— breadth. Unlike Moscow or Beijing, South would be a critical first step.
tionship significantly. Former US Na- are substantial. Border disputes, com- New Delhi does not carry the bag- The Tianjin SCO Summit was
tional Security Advisor John Bolton petition for regional leadership, and gage of direct confrontation with more than a diplomatic event—it was
lambasted the policy, accusing Trump diverging economic interests mean the West, allowing it to engage more a symbolic marker of the shifting tides
of “shredding decades of Western in world politics. As leaders from In-
efforts” to align India away from dia, Russia, and China converged,
Moscow and toward Washington. they collectively sent a signal: the age
For American allies in Europe, of unipolarity is waning, and a new,
the SCO summit was a sobering re- more plural order is in the making.
minder of shifting power dynamics. India’s diplomacy has positioned
Finnish President Alexander Stubb it at the heart of this transition, en-
openly warned that if the West fails abling it to influence not only Asia’s
to adopt a more cooperative and trajectory but also the contours of
respectful foreign policy toward the global governance. For the US, the
Global South, it risks losing global path ahead is fraught: resist multi-
influence. The criticism was not only polarity and risk isolation, or adapt
aimed at the tariff war but also at the and engage with a world no longer
broader inability of the US to recog- defined by a single center of power.
nize the agency of emerging powers. The emerging order is unlikely
Within the US itself, Trump’s ap- to be smooth, and contradictions will
proach has drawn domestic criticism, abound. Yet the direction of travel
with analysts warning that his tariff is clear. The world is entering a new
strategy is isolating Washington at a Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin share a car together to phase—one where India, alongside
moment when it needs allies most. Russia and China, is helping redraw
Bolton noted that the tariff war had the venue of their bilateral meeting, in Tianjin (ANI Photo) the map of power for the 21st century.

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