Importance of an Independent Foreign Policy
THE port city of Tianjin had decked up for hosting the summit meeting of the Sanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). The SCO had expanded its mandate to include economic cooperation, cultural exchanges, and energy security. India and Pakistan joined as full members in 2017, followed by Iran in 2023 and Belarus in 2024.
As if to underline the technological focus reflecting the SCO's adaptation to 21st-century challenges and opportunities, China showcased its stunning advances in recent times in the Media Centre next to the Summit venue with its Humanoid robots and AI driven support systems. Member states agreed to cooperate on reducing AI risks while improving security and accountability.
It was only natural that, in these uncertain times – and against the backdrop of President Trump’s “bull in a China shop” brand of tariff aggression – Tianjin would become a major focus of attention. The clamour for a more urgent response to the US-led world order was symptomatic of Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) agenda, which sought to move away from the familiar rule-based trading system toward bilateral arrangements designed to maximise US benefits. This shift dramatically underscores the imperative of a multipolar world.
Trump tariffs have been most severe for India and Brazil. In the case of India, the principal pretext is purchase of Russian oil and further selling it for profit. But Trump’s stated claim goes far beyond “… India has charged us such high tariffs, the most of many countries that our businesses are unable to sell into India”. Trump has actually gone berserk and referred to India as a ‘dead economy’ and trade with India as a ‘one sided disaster’. Trump is also emotionally upset because India did not sufficiently acknowledge his role in the cessation of military hostilities. One of his aides has gone to the absurd length to charge India for helping Russia fuel the Ukraine war. How much of these are justified is anybody’s guess, but the messaging is not for India alone and is primarily aimed at browbeating India to force a bilateral deal to satisfy US.
Tianjin displayed the optics, heft and substance towards multipolarity and a stable world order underpinned by the presence of Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin and Narendra Modi. The SCO has focussed on regional and global security. The Tianjin declaration is unambiguous; it – “strongly condemned the military strikes by Israel and the United States of America”, calling them “a gross violation of international law and the UN Charter” and “an infringement” of Iran’s sovereignty”. This stands in sharp contrast to India’s abstention from the earlier standalone SCO statement when the Ministry of External Affairs clarified that New Delhi had not participated in the SCO’s decision-making and limited itself to expressing “deep concern” and urging dialogue and diplomacy. It had earlier echoed the same approach even on the genocide in Gaza pursued by Israel and abetted to the hilt by US. The Tianjin resolution underpinned this changed stance The declaration clearly expressed “deep concern over the continuing escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict,” denouncing actions that have resulted in “numerous civilian casualties” and created a “catastrophic humanitarian situation” in Gaza.
In fact, it was becoming clear from the Xi-Modi summit meeting before Tianjin event as to which way the wind was blowing. India and China are ‘Partners not rivals’ was the common spirit. The two large neighbours were agreed for "fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable resolution" towards highlighting the “importance of a multipolar world, free trade and 'role of their two economies to stabilise world trade' as pointed by the MEA statement. Both the countries would pursue a policy of strategic autonomy. Xi observed the two countries should strengthen "multilateral cooperation to safeguard common interests" and should “not let the border issue define the overall China-India relationship" . In figurative description of Xi, ‘the hour of ‘Dragon dancing with the Elephant has arrived’. The irony of all these cannot be lost to the Indian domestic audience who are so familiar with marauding hordes of BJP IT cell spitting venom against China and its leadership.
In a way, Tianjin is almost a seamless continuation of the BRICS summit in Rio Di Janeiro unfortunately neither Xi nor Putin were physically present. The BRICS bloc of developing nations on July 5 condemned the increase in tariffs and attacks on Iran, but refrained from naming US President Trump. The group’s declaration, which also took aim at Israel’s military actions in the Middle East, also spared its member Russia from criticism and mentioned war-torn Ukraine just once.
BRICS was founded by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, but the group last year expanded to include Indonesia, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates. Along with new members, the bloc has 10 strategic partner countries, a category created at last year’s summit that includes Belarus, Cuba and Vietnam. The summit indeed offered the best opportunity for emerging countries to respond, in seeking alternatives and diversifying their economic partnerships.”
The BRICS bloc is rapidly transforming the global economic landscape. With its innovative trade agreements and strategic financial initiatives, intra-BRICS trade is emerging as a powerful counterweight to traditional western-dominated markets. In recent years, the BRICS nations have significantly ramped up trade among themselves. With combined GDP figures and an expanding consumer base, these emerging economies are leveraging intra-bloc trade to reduce dependence on traditional global currencies and western financial systems. For instance, intra-BRICS trade reached over $600 billion in 2022, demonstrating a robust shift towards localised economic cooperation and a deliberate move to diversify away from the dollar.
Trump and Modi’s apparent bonhomie with their characteristic ‘pappi and jhappi’ brand of diplomacy are clearly unravelling with the tariff aggression and India’s inability to reach a trade deal on US terms. It is more than clear that Trump does not see India’s interests in a broader geopolitical sense; he doesn’t appreciate India’s value to the United States in terms of the management of the Asian balance of power or the global balance of power.
But for Modi and his BJP led government there will be very few to shed tears. But who have been following the India-US relationship this should be of little surprise. This was actually waiting to happen. In the aftermath of Operation Sindoor, despite Modi government’s self-congratulatory chest beating, Trump’s megalomaniacal unilateral claim of credit for cessation of hostilities and benign response, it was clear that Trump did not care two hoots. The return of hyphenation of India and Pakistan were clear signs of India’s value in the regional-global power balance and the consequent decline of its strategic importance. The Left in India has been cautioning all along urging for an independent foreign policy with national interest and strategic autonomy as its cornerstone.
Imperialism is the ‘leopard which cannot change its spots’. Forget the Left, even Henry Kissinger the most weighty US foreign policy thinker candidly expressed ‘to be adversarial to US was dangerous, but to embrace it is lethal’. But RSS and Hindutva brigade are incapable of providing that clarity of vision.
This is the moment of reckoning. This conjuncture should be seen as an opportunity to break away from the course of subordinating to the geopolitical strategic gameplan of the US and build genuine partnership with the south expressed through the BRICS and SCO process. Meanwhile, the government should focus on studying the sector specific impact of this tariff crusade and step up policy measures to ameliorate the plight of most vulnerable areas of MSME, employment and agriculture. There are enough complementarities available for absorbing the shock of giving up on the US dependence on trade with US.
(September 3, 2025)
