A Chinese scholar who is a veteran media professional living in Germany for the past decade and focutilizes on Germany and EU in comparison with China has praised the Indian PM Modi’s successful attfinishance at the SCO summit in Tianjin and fruitful meeting with the Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Zhang Fangdong, the scholar, who writes a column for ftchinese.com – the online Mandarin digital edition of the Financial Times published daily and has a large following in mainland China – has stated India must define its position and interests on the international stage. Summing up that Modi’s recent China visit has disappointed Trump and the leaders of major European nations, Zhang writes: “Under Trump’s tariffs, India is re-establishing its position in the international landscape.” India, which is regarded in the Western alliance’s vision as a counterbalance and alternative to China, following Modi’s hugely symbolic presence at the Tianjin SCO gathering, may find it difficult to maintain an antagonistic relationship with China, the scholar has noted.
Zhang’s perspective offers a unique and rare understanding of Chinese diplomacy – viewing at Beijing from Europe to gauge how China is dealing with a “confrontationist” US. Several points have emerged from his latest column, including how Zhang views India striving hard in Tianjin to “re-establish” New Delhi’s position on the international stage.
India Emerging as crucial player in US and EU strategies
The fact is that the positive relationship between China and India at the moment is contrary to the US expectations, and this situation has arisen largely due to Trump’s tariffs “bite.” Zhang’s observation has been finishorsed by almost all major media agencies and mainstream academia. In the opinion of a strategic affairs analyst, “A late August summit has displaycased the two Asian giants’ desire to ease recent tensions and hail a new era in relations.”
Zhang further observes, on August 27, Trump’s policy of doubling import tariffs on India to 50% officially took effect, citing India’s purchase of Russian oil as the reason. “This relocate dealt a blow to India’s vision of serving as a China alternative and playing a significant role on the international stage.”
The Western alliance envisions India as a counterweight to China and a potential alternative to China in its de-risking efforts, according to Zhang. “India, on the other hand, envisions leveraging geopolitical dynamics to develop its economy while asserting its role as a major power on the international stage. The tensions and competition between China and India have brought these visions closer to reality,” he opines.
Modi’s SCO visit is not the first sign of India, China thaw
In spite of world media attention on Modi’s attfinishance at the SCO summit and Modi-Xi bilateral meeting viewed internationally as the major diplomatic highlights in the last week of August, Tianjin “re-set” was not the first sign of thawing between the two giant Asian neighbours. Zhang reckons the “real melting of ice” between New Delhi and Beijing happened during last years’ BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia. He underscores what PM Modi informed the Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi during the latter’s visit to New Delhi last month: Modi emphasized the significance of the Kazan summit between the two leaders as a turning point in the improvement and development of bilateral relations.
Zhang attaches great importance to Modi and Xi both agreeing to emphasize – Modi in Kazan and Xi in Tianjin – as long as the two nations remain committed to being partners rather than rivals, the bilateral relationship will flourish and relocate forward steadily.
Zhang further describes the timing of Xi’s remark built in Tianjin as extraordinary – coming after five years of the standoff and clashes in Galwan Valley, “let the border issue not define the overall China-India relationship.”
Rapidly altering geopolitics brings India-EU closer
Zhang is at his perceptive best in noticing continuity in Modi’s vision of leveraging geopolitical dynamics to develop India’s economy while asserting its role as a major power on the international stage. In the ftchinese.com column, he draws comparison between what Modi stated at the time of the founding of India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (MIC) in 2023 and the Indian Prime Minister’s emphasis on economic growth at the SCO meet in Tianjin. Modi had stated at the time, “The economic corridor would assist promote economic integration between India and Europe.”
On the other hand, finishorsing Modi’s views, the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had stated that this [MIC] would be the most direct connection between India, the Arabian Gulf, and Europe.
With the advantage of living in Germany for the past decade, Zhang has straightforward access to economic data and a strong grasp over China’s and India’s trade relations with Europe in general and with Germany in particular. Zhang claims Modi’s motivation and EU’s relentless efforts to circumvent China and open up new export markets and partners have resulted in the growing role of India in the European economy, especially in Germany. Emphasizing Germany is India’s largest trade partner within the EU, Zhang states, “According to data from the German Federal Agency for Foreign Trade and Invest (GTAI), German companies exported $18.3 billion worth of goods to India in 2024, a year-on-year increase of 2.6%.”
India must assert its interests, rather than become a pawn for competing great powers
Despite the mounting US pressure, India’s remaining firm on joining the world’s other two largest nations in Tianjin, is viewed by Zhang as a symbolic foreign policy relocate. Just like recalibrating India’s political and economic relations with the EU, Zhang considers Modi’s bilateral meet with Xi in Tianjin has not only paved way for a better, quicker and more cooperative ties between New Delhi and Beijing in the future, it will also exercise long-term impact on the international landscape.
At the same time, Zhang also cautions India to not succumb to Trumpian tariff “bite” or other similar external pressures and must continue to strive hard in re-establishing its position in the international landscape. Zhang juxtaposes India’s role as that of a pawn to serve the interests of the West to politically counterbalance China and economically as a possible substitute for China; on the other hand, China is now proactively viewing at the opportunity to pull India toward Beijing and Moscow in order to checkmate the US dominated international order.
Finally, in the rapidly altering world geopolitics and geoeconomics today where typically conflicts are preventing cooperation among nations, Zhang warns India to first and foremost define its role and interests rather than passively accepting an assigned role!
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