The SCO summit was held in Kazakhstan, and the highest levels of China and Russia were present, but India was downgraded to participate, and Modi wanted to talk to Putin alone. Why was Modi absent from the SCO summit? Why does India frequently refuse to participate in international conferences led by third world countries? What does Modi want to discuss separately with Putin?
On July 3, the 24th meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO Member States will be held in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, and both China and Russia have shown great importance to this meeting.
On the 30th, Xinhua News Agency reported that the highest level of the Chinese side has confirmed that it will leave for Astana on the 2nd, and in addition to attending the SCO summit, it will also be invited to pay state visits to Kazakhstan and Tajikistan, so the Chinese side has arranged a trip of up to 5 days.
On the other hand, Putin also arranged the itinerary of the SCO summit in advance as early as last month, and according to the Kremlin's release, Putin plans to have close bilateral contacts with all parties during the summit. A few days ago, Putin also publicly stated that Russia is ready to join hands with international platforms such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the BRICS countries to jointly build a just, democratic and fair new world.
Therefore, it is very likely that this SCO summit will discuss the future plans of the SCO and even determine the direction of the development of third world countries to a certain extent, but at this critical moment, there are not very harmonious voices in India.
On June 28, India's Ministry of External Affairs announced that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi confirmed that he would not attend the summit, but that External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar would attend on his behalf.
At a time when many SCO leaders are gathering, India is downgrading its participation to the meeting, which is inevitably controversial. In fact, as the organizer, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev also made a special phone call to Modi, hoping to persuade him to change his mind, but Modi was resolute, even if Tokayev retreated and hoped that Modi would attend at least two hours of the main meeting in the form of video, he still did not receive a positive answer.
Modi's decision will undoubtedly have a negative impact on India's image in third world countries.
First of all, Modi chose to attend the G7 summit held in Italy in mid-June, and also posted pictures on social platforms to show his diplomatic achievements.
However, at the BRICS Foreign Ministers' Meeting held almost at the same time, Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar chose to be absent, if the reason given by Jaishankar at that time was barely justified for India's domestic elections, but earlier, Kazakhstan presided over the SCO Foreign Ministers' Meeting and Defense Ministers' Meeting, S Jaishankar and Indian Defense Minister Singh were also absent, and the signal behind this is quite obvious.
It should be pointed out that at last month's BRICS Foreign Ministers' Meeting, the member states had just discussed and adopted the decision to suspend the expansion of the BRICS, and India's absence from such an important meeting obviously did not pay enough attention to the future development of the BRICS.
Second, Modi's absence has also frustrated Russia's plan to "mediate" Sino-Indian relations.
A few days ago, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov publicly stated that Russia intends to convene a trilateral meeting of China, Russia and India, resume trilateral cooperation, and is committed to taking a unified position on Eurasian and global issues. But Lavrov also mentioned: "The Sino-Indian border dispute is the main obstacle. ”
This obstacle is not of China's perpetration, and the Sino-Indian border issue stems from India's unreasonable territorial claims and provocative actions. Moreover, China has always advocated shelving disputes with India and seeking common development, but India has always insisted that China-India relations cannot be normalized unless the China-India border issue is resolved.
Originally, this SCO summit was a good opportunity for China, Russia and India to hold talks, and Modi's absence can be said to have directly swept Russia's face.
But Modi has other plans, with India's Tribune newspaper reporting that Modi will make a "quick one-day visit" to Moscow on July 8. It will also be Modi's first visit to Russia since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Modi's move to not participate in the trilateral talks between China, Russia and India, but to negotiate with Putin alone, sends a very clear signal that he will not accept the trilateral framework of China, Russia and India, because this move will inevitably cause dissatisfaction in the West. And the reason for visiting Russia is only because India needs to import a lot of low-cost energy and advanced weapons from Russia.
Modi's current series of choices are more about India's own interests, and the common development of the third world is put aside first, which also makes the SCO, BRICS and other international platforms also have some dissatisfaction with India.