Allies on the rebound?

I have a young friend who reads/ speaks/ writes Chinese with élan. This morning, I asked him for a favour. Our newspaper headlines made it look like PM Modi’s appearance at the SCO summit in Tianjin (31 Aug–1 Sept) was a showcase of India’s diplomatic heft. I asked him if Chinese newspapers, TV or social media were saying anything similar.

His reply: Chinese media did mention Xi Jinping’s meeting with Putin and Modi, but made no fuss about it. It was framed as Xi’s achievement: that he had managed to line up an adversary like Modi at his side, to thumb his nose at Trump. Putin got some praise too — and it’s perhaps best not to dwell on the choice words used for our prime minister, my young friend said.

The answer left me disappointed. Not because I take such criticism as gospel. Obviously, if I don’t take India’s courtier media at face value, why would I trust China’s state-controlled outlets or censored social media? No — the disappointment was of a different kind: however much we may criticise Modi at home, when he goes abroad, he represents India — and if the prime minister is reduced to a laughing stock, it shames every Indian.

Lapdog media may have packaged the SCO summit as another feather in Modi’s cap, but you can’t keep people in the dark for ever, and they are getting restless. The same people who were calling China India’s mortal enemy yesterday are now busy spinning the ‘benefits of friendship’ with China. The same TV anchors who felt frissons of excitement when Trump and Modi shook hands are now starry-eyed about a Xi–Putin–Modi handshake.

Modi’s glory on the world stage is now apparently manifest in his ‘body language’, seen in photographs and video clips. Small wonder that social media is also awash with clips that show him looking helpless and sidelined. Whatever the truth, one thing is clear: this kind of crass debate on foreign affairs only exposes the helplessness of our own public life.

The real story of the Tianjin summit lies far beyond this chatter. The SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation) is technically a multilateral forum, but the pivot is China, and Xi is its ringmaster. Through this summit, Xi wanted to mock US President Donald Trump. Every country battered by Trump’s arbitrary tariff diktats used the chance to push back. India was just one among them — no more, no less. Let’s be clear: Modi showed up only because Trump ditched him.

Until recently, Modi’s government was far more loyal to the Quad — the anti-China grouping of the US, Japan, Australia and India — than to the SCO. The truth is, if there was a star guest at this summit, it wasn’t Modi — it was Vladimir Putin. And if the final statement condemned the terror attack at Pahalgam (sponsored by Pakistan), it also condemned terror strikes in Pakistan — at Jaffar Express and Khuzdar — where Islamabad blamed India. The reality is plain: India was given about as much weight as Pakistan.

No photo-op from Tianjin can hide the larger reality: India is more isolated on the global stage today than ever before. Truth is, except for Bhutan, every neighbouring government has come to power riding anti-India slogans.

Truth is, India, once the uncrowned king of the Non-Aligned Movement, is now irrelevant in the politics of the Third World or the Global South. Truth is, after our silence on Israel’s genocide in Gaza and the US strike on Iran, India’s name, its moral stature is mud. Truth is, Trump’s tariff tantrums wouldn’t have been such a blow if it hadn’t come after India’s shameless flattery of Trump and America. The only saving grace is that ties with Russia were kept alive — but even here, it was less about loyalty and more about Indian corporates lusting after cheap Russian crude oil.

Fact is Modi’s trip to China was born of compulsion, stemming from India’s global isolation. In the past 11 years, this was his third attempt to extend the hand of friendship to Xi. Every time, China has read it as a sign of weakness and struck back — be it Ladakh, Doklam or during Operation Sindoor.

After the four-day war, Indian generals openly said that China was backing Pakistan with weapons, infra-structure and intelligence. The same government mouthpieces who called for a boycott of Chinese goods a few months ago are now airing photos of Modi smiling alongside Xi at the SCO summit. These photos don’t show goodwill, though; they show a cornered leader’s helplessness.

It’s also true that this helplessness owes less to global upheavals than to the Modi government’s own muddled understanding. India is paying a price for turning foreign policy into a PR exercise for Modi and a weapon of electoral politics. We are in a bind internationally because of the Modi government’s clueless-ness about global shifts, because it is only able to see and pursue short-term gain and does not have India’s long-term national interests on its radar.