Tianjin, China – 0 September: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks with Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) and Chinese President Xi Jinping before the Schenghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) 2025 at the Megiang Conference Center on September 1, 2025 in Tiangin, China. (Photography Suo Takekuma – Pool/Getty Images)
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Sometimes, one image tells the story better than any statement or announce the top.
He has become a widely joint clip by Chinese President Xi Jinping, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin is already laughing in Beijing.
On the surface, it appears to be an easy exchange between three leaders. But analysts say it reflects an accurate mixture of competing competitions and diverse power dynamics.
“The dragon and the elephant are not dancing yet. They only look at each other from the opposite aspects of the room and try to evaluate what effects on the relationship between the two? It will take a long time to restore the relationship to the right track,” Gotam Pambawal, the former India ambassador to China, told CNBC inside India.
Obstacles are clear. The border conflict between India and China remains without a solution since the 2020 clashes. Beijing’s document partnership with Pakistan – which extends beyond economic corridors to military equipment and intelligence cooperation – restricts the development of relations.
this Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit (SCO) The image gave its background. SCO expands in size and ambition, but as Jeremy Chan indicated in the Eurasia Group, more does not necessarily mean more importance.
Chan told CNBC: “SCO, although it is generally described as a security organization, does not really focus on military issues itself, and on all the recent global conflicts that have occurred, whether Ukraine or in Gaza, SCO was mainly absent.”
The timing of the meeting is noticeable. While former US President Donald Trump raised the customs tariffs and annoying global markets, Beijing is used to confirm its communication with the South South. Chan said Trump “breathes a new life” at the top, giving China an opportunity to frame more diplomacy than Washington.
The image also drew auditing in the American media. New York Times The interaction was described as “smiling appearances of Roika, which Moscow recently said it is hoping to revive,” noting the optimism of the rapprochement between Modi and Putin, who participated even a journey to a meeting on the margin. The report argued that a cautious bureaucracy in India may have once avoided such public offers with China and Russia, but Trump’s sweeping tariff leaves New Delhi with a “little incentive” to decline.
Multiple polarization, defined differently
For investors, the risks are great. Sco combines economies that represent nearly half of the world’s population, and they are essential in energy and trade. With the threat of definitions that threaten supply chains and markets for retail marks, the summits are closely monitored for new alignment signals, even if the objective results are limited.
For India, optics bears weight. Moody’s talks with Xi were interpreted as a reminder to Washington that India is ready to maintain dialogue with Beijing and Moscow while deepening relations with the United States and its allies. But New Delhi’s decision to overcome the SCO military parade confirmed the limits of any melting.
“India uses this to send an indirect signal to Washington indirectly, and it has strategic options, not only in Beijing, but also in Moscow,” Chan said. Moody’s quick exit from Beijing, immediately after his arrival from Tokyo, led to the constant involvement of India with American partners in Asia.
“The definition of pluralism varies for India and China.
Beijing defines it as a system in which American hegemony is reduced, allowing China more range to assert itself as a leading power in Asia. In contrast, India considers the effect that the effect is spreading evenly in many countries, with no one country in control.
Meanwhile, for Russia, SCO is still one of the few international platforms that Putin is not in defensive, which confirms Moscow’s permanent relations with influential Asian partners despite Western sanctions.
Beijing’s image takes all this in one frame. Smiles indicate harmony, but the reality is more complex.
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