‘India should ally with Vietnam, Taiwan, Japan to reduce dependence on Chinese supply chain'
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News18
2 hours ago
- News18
RIC Returns: The Russia-India-China Trilateral Builds Leverage For India
By keeping the RIC option open, India signals to the West that its partnership shouldn't be taken for granted, while also strengthening the ongoing reset in relations with China The old idea of Russia-India-China (RIC) coming together as a powerful trilateral force is making a quiet return. It was once a bold vision: an idea floated over three decades ago to reshape the global order by bringing together the three largest Eurasian powers outside the Western bloc. But as talk of its revival grows louder, especially from Moscow and Beijing, it's India's measured response that stands out. The coming months will be crucial. Prime Minister Narendra Modi might attend the SCO summit in Beijing alongside Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Putin is expected to visit India for the Russia-India annual summit—and India is also going to be hosting the Quad summit. The question is whether the RIC can see the light of day in the middle of all this. There are opportunities and obstacles in this time frame. While the USA-China-Russia dynamic boosts the relevance of RIC to Moscow and Beijing, the India-China equation weakens it. Ultimately, it depends on where India-US ties stand, the message India chooses to send to Trump, and also on how China behaves. It's not the first time we're hearing about the Russia-India-China (RIC) triangle. Dreamed up after the Cold War ended in the 1990s, the RIC idea was supposed to be a bold answer to a world order dominated by the West. The Russian Foreign Minister, Yevgeny Primakov, suggested then that three rising Asian giants—Russia, India, and China—should come together to reshape the rules. But while Russia and China are once again talking up the RIC, India has been measured in its approach. However, it is coming around. India describes RIC as a consultative mechanism where the three countries 'come and discuss global issues and regional issues of interest to them". And yet, the dates are yet to be worked out. As per MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, 'It is something that will be worked out among the three countries in a mutually convenient manner, and we will let you know as and when that happens at an appropriate time when the meeting is to take place". This is an old idea being revisited. But there was a reason why it did not take off in the past. When the RIC dialogue began in the early 2000s, Russia and India were inching close on energy and defence collaboration. Two agreements with China in 2003 and 2005 on boundary disputes stabilised India-China ties. Meanwhile, all three countries sought deep ties with the US and Europe. Russia craved a fresh relationship with America after the Soviet collapse. China was riding high on Western investment and trade. India was opening up to the world, and signed a civil nuclear deal with the US. There was no high-intensity friction with the US, and so the triangle never took off. Later, things got more complicated when China flouted boundary agreements, and started the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor or CPEC, which passes through occupied Indian territory. Meanwhile, Russia's ties with the West were frayed after it took Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. And yet, by 2019, there was a formal leaders-level RIC summit in June 2019, on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Osaka, Japan. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Vladimir Putin, and President Xi Jinping met and discussed global issues, multilateralism, and reform of institutions like the WTO and the UN. This was significant, but the high was over soon. China's border aggression in the Himalayas led to the bloody Galwan clash, after which India-China ties unravelled. Moreover, if you fast forward from 2019 to today, the world is messier. The West is divided. The US under Trump is unpredictable. Trade wars are heating up. And the Ukraine war and subsequent Western sanctions have pushed Russia even closer to China. Both Russia and China want to revive the RIC format. Russia has openly called for it. China has nodded in agreement. But India hasn't said much—at least not yet. While Russia's crashing ties with the West are a factor in India's hesitation, the real issue is China. There's deep strategic discomfort with China. India and China are in the midst of a reset. Rebuilding rules of engagement and seeking a bare-minimum level of trust is required to normalise economic relations and scale down military build-up on both sides at the border. Most recently, India reopened tourist visas for Chinese nationals after China's resumption of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra. Yet, there is a giant trust deficit—with China's unwavering support to Pakistan even during Operation Sindoor, its weaponisation of trade dominance in rare earths, its claims on Arunachal Pradesh and an ambitious dam project on the Yarlung Tsangpo which may affect water levels in the Brahmaputra river. Still, the RIC is significant. For India, it's about leverage. By teasing the idea of RIC, India gets to build leverage. It's an obvious geographical mandate that the three Asian giants should come together and build a mutual understanding on matters of concern. Russia and China are craving for it— to seek India out and send a collective message to the West. Meanwhile, Trump threatens 10 per cent tariffs for BRICS countries, and a whopping 100 per cent tariff on nations buying Russian oil. Europe has sanctioned a major Indian refinery. And the US-India trade deal still hangs in the balance, with no certainty. Moreover, with the White House warming up to Pakistan and Trump repeating claims that he ended the India-Pakistan conflict, even when India denies that— there is something fundamentally broken in the India-US relationship. Trump's threats and coercion are challenging and his overtures to Pakistan are further eroding trust. By keeping the RIC option open, India signals to the West that its partnership shouldn't be taken for granted, while also strengthening the ongoing reset in relations with China—both of which are strategically important. RIC for India is not about being anti-western. At its core, RIC was never meant to be anti-Western. It was supposed to be a counterbalance—an alternative centre of power in a multipolar world. A non-West construct. Today's version of RIC seems more loaded. With Russia under Western sanctions, and China increasingly hostile to US allies in the Indo-Pacific, the grouping risks looking like a bloc of grievance rather than a vision. India doesn't want to be part of an anti-West club. It still values its partnerships with the US, Japan, Australia, and Europe. But it also wants to keep its options open. And for that, flirting with the RIC idea makes sense. RIC is not about shifting camps. India doesn't want to be in anyone's camp. It's about hedging bets, playing the field smartly, and maintaining strategic autonomy. About the Author Shubhangi Sharma Shubhangi Sharma is News Editor - Special Projects at News18. She covers foreign affairs and geopolitics, and also keeps a close watch on the national pulse of India. tags : China donald trump India pakistan Russia United states view comments Location : New Delhi, India, India First Published: July 28, 2025, 15:29 IST News opinion Finepoint | RIC Returns: The Russia-India-China Trilateral Builds Leverage For India Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. 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Mint
2 hours ago
- Mint
Copper Rises to Start Pivotal Week Ahead of US Tariffs Deadline
Copper rose to kick off a critical week that includes a Federal Reserve meeting, a swathe of key economic data and the prospect of final details on imminent US tariffs on the industrial metal. The metal rose with other risk assets after the European Union and the US reached a deal that avoids a more catastrophic rupture between two major economies. The agreement comes ahead of a US-China meeting in Stockholm that's expected to extend a trade truce for 90 more days. Further important developments lie ahead this week. The Fed isn't expect to cut rates at the conclusion of its policy meeting on Wednesday, but its commentary will be scrutinized for clues on what comes next. There's also a deluge of US data from the latest on economic growth to jobs. But for copper, the most anticipated development should be the launch of US tariffs, the details of which are still unclear just days ahead of their start date. President Donald Trump's administration has said 50% levies on copper imports will start from this Friday, but hasn't so far confirmed important aspects of the duties. It's not clear which products will be covered, whether supplies from all nations will be hit equally, or how metal already on its way to US shores will be treated. Global traders have shipped massive amounts of copper to America to get ahead of tariffs, and Trump's announcement of an Aug. 1 deadline earlier this month triggered a last-minute scramble. Prices in the US are now much higher than those on the London Metal Exchange, but they don't fully reflect a 50% universal tariff rate on all exchange-traded copper. The premium now stands at about 31%. Copper rose 0.4% to $9,804 a ton on the LME as of 9:22 a.m. in London. Aluminum dropped 0.3% while zinc fell 0.7% and nickel was down 0.9% This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
Time of India
3 hours ago
- Time of India
Oil rises as US-EU deal boosts trade optimism
Oil prices rose on Monday after the United States clinched a trade deal with the European Union and may extend a tariff pause with China, relieving concerns that higher levies could have hurt economic activity and limited fuel demand. Brent crude futures inched up 61 cents, or 0.89 per cent, to $69.05 a barrel by 0647 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate crude stood at $65.75 a barrel, up 59 cents, or 0.91 per cent. The US-European Union trade deal and a possible extension in the US-China tariff pause are supporting global financial markets and oil prices, IG markets analyst Tony Sycamore said. "With the risk of a prolonged trade war and the importance of the August tariff deadlines being steadily defused, markets have responded positively," he added in a note. Sunday's US-EU framework trade pact sets an import tariff of 15 per cent on most EU goods, half the threatened rate. The deal averted a bigger trade war between two allies that account for almost one-third of global trade and could crimp fuel demand. Also set for Monday is a meeting in Stockholm of senior US and Chinese negotiators aiming to extend before an August 12 deadline a truce holding off sharply higher tariffs. Oil prices settled on Friday at their lowest in three weeks weighed down by global trade concerns and expectations of more oil supply from Venezuela. State-run oil company PDVSA is readying to resume work at its joint ventures under terms similar to Biden-era licences, once US President Donald Trump reinstates authorisations for its partners to operate and export oil under swaps, company sources said. Though prices were up slightly on Monday, gains were limited by the prospect of OPEC+ further easing supply curbs. A market monitoring panel of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies is set to meet at 1200 GMT on Monday. It is unlikely to recommend altering existing plans by eight members to raise oil output by 548,000 barrels per day in August, four OPEC+ delegates said last week, though another source said it was too early to say. ING expects OPEC+ will at least complete the full return of 2.2 million barrels per day of the additional voluntary supply cuts by the end of September. That would work out to a supply hike in September of at least 280,000 barrels per day. However, there is clearly room for a more aggressive hike. The producer group is keen to recover market share while summer demand is helping to absorb the extra barrels. JP Morgan analysts said global oil demand rose by 600,000 bpd in July on year, while global oil stocks rose 1.6 million bpd. In the Middle East, Yemen's Houthis said on Sunday they would target ships of companies that do business with Israeli ports, regardless of nationality, in what they called a fourth phase of military operations against Israel over the Gaza conflict.
