Modi Heads to China as India Turns East amid Trump Tantrums

Amid an upheaval brought out by Trump in India-US relations, experts note that New Delhi will seek diversification of relations with thrust on Global South

By MANISH ANAND

NEW DELHI, August 6, 2025 — Prime Minister Narendra Modi will embark on a China visit on August 31 to finally bring curtains on Galwan valley violent skirmish between two nations. Modi’s China visit is gaining global attention for a possible shift in India’s foreign policy.

Modi will be visiting China to attend the Leaders’ Summit of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). Unlike Modi, China’s President Xi Jinping had skipped the G20 Leaders’ Summit in New Delhi. Xi had sent Chinese premier Li Keqiang to attend the New Delhi Summit.

The hallmark of the New Delhi G20 Leaders’ Summit was an announcement on the sideline for India-Middle East-Europe Corridor (IMEC), which was described as an initiative backed by the US to counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). With US President Donald Trump now at helm in Washington, IMEC is almost forgotten. Worse, Trump has sent US-India relations into a tailspin with his threats for “substantial” tariffs on India for buying oils from Russia.

Bruno Maçães, a geopolitical analyst, noted in a post on X that “there seem to be very high levels of anti-Indian racism in this (Trump) administration.” He was commenting on a post that quoted The Economist reporting that “Indian diplomats were stunned at the behaviour of Trump with Modi at the close door meeting in February this year.” The report claimed that “Trump put pressure on Modi to buy more American defence goods, including F35 fighter jets.”

Michael Kugelman, another geopolitical commentator, in a post on X, said: “Who would have imagined, just six months after Trump’s return, that the trend lines of India’s relationship with Canada would be more positive than those of India’s relationship with the US?”

Modi attended G7 Outreach Summit in Canada amid a visible thaw in Ottawa’s relations with New Delhi. Christopher Clary, a professor in international relations, wrote on X: “The core reality of India’s foreign policy dilemma is this: Russia is too weak and too backward to provide India what it needs to ascend, the EU is militarily incapable and riven by its own divisions, China is too strong, and the US is erratic.”

Amid an upheaval brought out by Trump in India-US relations, experts note that New Delhi will seek diversification of relations with thrust on Global South. They argue that China had been more pragmatic than India to have read the future trajectory and diversified economic integrations with Europe, Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East to insulate from shocks from the US.

Constantino Xavier, another geopolitical commentator, sought to disagree with others, saying India may not be facing a dilemma per se. “…more of a challenging context, and one that isn’t even that bad compared to other, far more challenging contexts it navigated successfully since 1947,” he added in a post on X. He was pointing to India facing a number of western sanctions in the past.

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About The Author

Manish Anand

Manish Anand is a senior journalist with more than two decades of hardcore reporting on beats such as Prime Minister’s Office, Parliament, BJP, Congress, Planning Commission, NITI Aayog, and scores of Union Ministries.

His past has been with The New Indian Express, The Asian Age/Deccan Chronicle, and The Statesman.

For about 15 years, Manish was also a regular commentator and host for talks on AIR on foreign affairs.

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