Project Sword
During this period, tensions between China and India began to rise again due to India's arrest of employees of Chinese companies and the revelation of supporting terrorist activities against Chinese citizens in Pakistan. However, on this occasion, Russia is courting India. In this regard, the Indian foreign minister also said during his visit to Russia that Russia is a reliable partner and seems to want to show the close relations between India and Russia. So, will the proximity of Russia and India have an impact on Sino-Russian relations?
Recently, Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar visited Russia and was received with a high profile. During the visit, in addition to discussing strengthening cooperation in the military and other fields, Putin also announced that he would invite Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit Russia.
Of course, since relations between Russia and India have always been good, objectively speaking, it is not surprising that Russia and India have such interactions and discussions on strengthening cooperation. There are two points worth paying attention to: The first is that the current Sino-Indian relations are not friendly, and some voices are worried that Russia and India will have an impact on Sino-Russian relations recentlySecond, perhaps in order to win over India, Russia has sent two "big gifts" to India.
Whether India is attacking Chinese companies or supporting terrorist activities in Pakistan as revealed by the leader of a Pakistani terrorist organization, it actually shows that India's hostility to China is still very strong. Under such circumstances, the proximity of Russia to India will indeed inevitably have some negative impact on Sino-Russian relations.
Take the two "big gifts" that Russia sent to India this time as an example, that is, to support India's "normalization" and joint production with India to produce more advanced **. None of this is good news for China.
Prior to this, the attitude of the United States, Britain and France towards India's "normalization" was very positive, and only China and Russia had maintained their sanity. The reason why China and Russia are cautious about this is also very simple, because for the Security Council, India itself is a very big destabilizing factor. India's hostility towards China, as well as the country's "balanced diplomatic strategy" between Russia and the West, basically doomed India to abuse its veto power after its "normalization." As a result, it is estimated that many future resolutions of the Security Council will not be adopted, and it will be difficult for the Security Council to play its due role in international affairs. And, in an even worse case, it would be to directly change the rules of the Council and remove the veto. In this way, Western countries can directly do whatever they want in the Security Council by virtue of their vote advantage.
As for the joint production of more advanced ** by Russia and India, strictly speaking, this is indeed bilateral cooperation between Russia and India, but we must also understand that these cooperation also greatly increases the risk of further targeting China by India. Because India is not only likely to deploy these advanced ** to the Sino-Indian border, but also may increase exports to some other countries that have disputes with China. For example, the BrahMos missile jointly produced by Russia and India has been continuously marketed by India to countries such as Vietnam and the Philippines.
From Russia's point of view, it is certainly in Russia's interests to strengthen cooperation with India. First, Russia's eastward look is not only with China, India is also a big buyer of Russian energy and equipment and other goods, Russia hopes to let India see the sincerity of cooperation. Second, India is also the target of the West's great efforts to woo India, and it is absolutely necessary for Russia to lower its posture and show favor to India to a certain extent in order to prevent India from falling into the Western camp.
Therefore, we speculate that the strengthening of ties between Russia and India does not have much to do with China, and all that Russia has done is more based on Russian interests. In a certain sense, this is the same reason that Russian high-level officials have visited China many times this year to discuss strengthening energy cooperation and developing the Far East. For Russia, China is very important, but India is also important.
China and Russia have exceeded $200 billion, and at the same time, there are many large-scale projects such as natural gas and oil, and Russia is waiting to move forward with China. In the face of Western encirclement, there is no reason for Russia to backstab China at this time.
The Indian Foreign Minister stressed that Russia is a reliable partner, and it cannot be ruled out that there are also elements of deliberate remarks to China. However, China's position is also very clear: we believe that relevant cooperation should not be directed at any third party. And Russia knows this. If India's intentions are not pure, we believe that Russia can also make the most rational choice.
What's more, the "big gift" that Russia gave to India actually did not have much substantive effect. For example, if we support India's "normalization", as long as we oppose it, it will be an empty word. As for the joint production of Russia and India, it can also be seen from the serious lack of buyers in India, and in the end, most of the largest buyers are still India. In other words, Russia just sold ** equipment to India in a different way. Some of the ** at the bottom of the box, Russia is unlikely to take it out at all.
In short, China is not the only friend of Russia, but also China. Russian-Indian friendship and Sino-Russian friendship can completely coexist.