On July 4, the 24th meeting of the SCO summit officially opened in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, but unfortunately, the India prime minister was absent from the meeting, citing travel conflicts.
As everyone knows, in the ten years he has been the prime minister of India, Modi has missed the SCO summit four times.
As a member of the SCO, India has not been able to attach great importance to the meeting, and what is even more puzzling is that India is not a member of the G7, but Modi appeared at the G7 summit in Italy on June 11.
At the SCO summit, Modi only sent External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to attend, a decision that seemed incompatible on a major occasion attended by heads of state.
But to India's embarrassment, Modi's absence did not have any substantive impact, but instead made the atmosphere of the SCO summit very harmonious, and the meeting not only produced many positive results, but also included Belarus in the SCO member state, strengthening the SCO.
India's current closeness to the United States and the West is becoming more and more obvious, and the purpose of Modi's absence from the SCO summit is also clear.
Modi wants to use this to express his attitude to the United States and the West. Alienating China, deliberately absenting China from high-level international conferences, and frequently stumbling on China in Asia-Pacific affairs are India's "petitions" to express its intentions to the West.
United States is also happy to accept India's statement, after all, if India can be regarded as an outpost of NATO's expansion in the Asia-Pacific region, United States will have an entry point when it intervenes in Asia-Pacific affairs again in the future.
Previously, some Western media slandered that the SCO is a cooperation organization dominated by China and Russia with strong "anti-Western" tendencies, and India, as a member of the organization, has become embarrassed by its own positioning.
In absenteeism from the SCO summit, India is likely to clear its opposition to the West. Moreover, India's own attitude towards China is not optimistic. On the border issue between the two countries, India has frequently created conflicts, resulting in unrest on the border between the two countries.
And it is foreseeable that India's confidence and hopes for the SCO will continue to decline. Because China will succeed Kazakhstan as the new presidency and Russia will support China during its term, this change will make it more difficult for India to exert a negative influence in the SCO.
In the future, India is likely to focus its foreign affairs on the West. However, as an Asian country, India does not want to have good relations with its good neighbors, but instead leans towards the Western world, which must be unwise.
At the SCO summit, India proposed to add English to the official working language of the SCO summit.
This is undoubtedly a "flattery" move to the West, and since English is not the official language of India, Chinese and Russian have been the official languages of the SCO for more than two decades, so India's sudden request is groundless.
What is certain is that India's initiative to fade out of the Asia-Pacific exchange circle is undoubtedly lifting a stone to shoot itself in the foot. Regardless of whether the United States and the Western camp can accept India, India's own refusal to attend the SCO summit will undoubtedly lead to a decline in India's own influence in this organization.
During the talks, all countries held friendly consultations, but did not take India to "play". Putin met with the president of Turkey and China met with the leader of Azerbaijan, but did not leave time to arrange a meeting with India's foreign minister, S Jaishankar.
All these signs also indicate that the strong cooperative relationship between the SCO countries will not change because of the division and provocation of one India.
What is Modi's intention to visit Russia?
On the 8th of this month, Modi, who did not attend the SCO summit, went to Russia for a state visit. It's incredible. After all, Putin had just attended the SCO summit in Kazakhstan, so why didn't Modi go when he wanted to seek engagement? Quite simply, India wants to bypass China and engage with Russia.
United States experts interpret Modi's actions as "aimed at ensuring that China does not dominate the affairs of the Asia-Pacific region."
Russia said that it could include India in the consideration of partners when discussing cooperative development in the Far East with China, a signal that India thought it could see the possibility of dividing the relationship between China and Russia, but unfortunately, Modi's calculation is likely to fall through again.
Although India and Russia also have long-standing cooperative relations, it is clear that Russia attaches more importance to exchanges and cooperation with China.
China and Russia are comprehensive strategic cooperative partners, and the relationship between China and Russia is at the highest level in history.
In the eyes of the outside world, China and Russia will join hands to occupy an absolute voice in global affairs, but in fact, the relationship between China and Russia is not a military and political alliance, the cooperation between the two countries is not aimed at any third country, China and Russia are just a close cooperative partnership formed in a state of mutual respect and mutual benefit.
In addition, when Russia faced the pressure of the entire Western world, China did not intervene in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, but fully respected Russia's sovereign interests.
At this time, it is obviously unwise for India to do something behind the scenes of China and Russia in the case of siding with the West, after all, India itself cannot pick up its "pro-American" attributes, and how dare it speak ill of China in front of Russia?
At the SCO Summit, Foreign Minister Wang Yi reiterated his opposition to bloc confrontation, unilateral bullying, Cold War isolation, and other extreme thinking that endangers international security.
In view of the long-standing border issue between China and India, China hopes to respect each other's territorial sovereignty with India and properly handle the border situation.
But these topics have become "clichés" in the eyes of India, and India continues to go its own way after previous rounds of negotiations.
As early as the outbreak of the Sino-Indian border conflict, India has implemented various suppressive measures against Chinese companies in India, and not only that, India has also severely restricted China's visa approval. These practices will undoubtedly cause harm to the bilateral relations between the two countries.
However, since India is determined to "go all the way north", China should also abandon undue illusions and enhance its own strength to meet all challenges that may come in the future.
Resources:
Global Defense Highlights: 2024-07-09: Modi played a trick on United States, refusing to attend the SCO summit but meeting with Putin alone
Huaguan Global: 2024-07-07: Something is wrong? Modi's absence from the SCO summit and his separate meeting with Putin is not simple