Trump Misreads India: Autonomy Over Alignment in China Strategy
Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Chinese and Russian President Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin at SCO Summit! (Image PMO)
By framing India as “falling into China’s arms,” Donald Trump risks undermining US containment strategy in Asia, weakening the Quad, and handing Beijing a symbolic victory, argue analyst.
By TRH Global Affairs Desk
NEW DELHI, September 5, 2025 —US President Donald Trump’s latest claim that India has “fallen into the arms” of China has triggered sharp pushback from foreign policy analysts, who argue that the remark distorts India’s long tradition of strategic autonomy and risks weakening US efforts to counter Beijing in the Indo-Pacific.
“Since Trump’s latest post, the narrative began to take hold that New Delhi had fallen into China’s orbit. This perspective, besides being simplistic, constitutes a serious strategic error,” wrote Gonzalo Fiore Viani, a geopolitical analyst, on X.
Viani noted that India has historically avoided becoming a pawn of great powers — not during the Cold War, and not now in today’s multipolar world. From the Non-Aligned Movement to its modern doctrine of “multi-alignment,” New Delhi, he argued, has pursued room to maneuver, striking a balance between major powers based on its own interests.
“With the United States, India has deepened defence and technology ties, ranging from joint military exercises and interoperability agreements to cooperation in semiconductors, civilian nuclear energy, and space projects,” stated Viani.
With Russia, dependence on energy and defence supplies endures, noted the analyst, adding: “And despite tensions with Beijing, India continues robust trade with China — a reflection of economic pragmatism, not submission.”
He warned that “Trump, by insisting that India is tilting toward China, not only distorts reality but also weakens Washington’s Indo-Pacific strategy.”
“The Quad — with the US, Japan, Australia, and India — risks being undermined if trust erodes. Ironically, that could become a self-fulfilling prophecy pushing New Delhi closer to Beijing,” he argued.
Analysts caution that Trump’s framing delivers Beijing an unintended gift: a symbolic narrative victory. Chinese propaganda thrives on suggesting that even India, often viewed as the natural counterweight in Asia, is gravitating toward its orbit. If Washington buys into that view, experts argue, it weakens America’s standing across the Global South and underestimates India’s central role in shaping alternatives to China’s rise.
“New Delhi does not surrender to anyone but plays its own game, on its own terms,” Viani concluded. The analyst asserted that “India is not a lost prize in the contest with China. It is an indispensable partner.”
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