My Take | China’s latest mega-dam complicates thaw in ties with India
Beijing’s plans for the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet risk setting back recent efforts to improve relations between the two neighbours
Donald Trump’s approach to international relations has placed China on the defensive, but by also alienating key US allies and partners, it may have created an unexpected opening for Beijing.
Since the US president unveiled his tariff plans in April, Beijing has significantly ramped up efforts to improve ties with Europe, Southeast Asia, and even its most formidable regional rivals – Japan and India.
In a sign of deepening detente between the Himalayan neighbours, India’s external affairs minister S. Jaishankar visited Beijing last week for the first time since a deadly clash in the Galwan Valley in June 2020.
During the visit, Jaishankar, a former ambassador to both China and the United States, met with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi and Vice-President Han Zheng, along with President Xi Jinping as part of a group meeting of foreign ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
The trip was widely seen as paving the way for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend the SCO summit in Tianjin at the end of August.
According to state news agency Xinhua, Xi said he hoped to “chart the course of the organisation together” with the nine other members of the SCO.