Is the Ukraine crisis an opportunity for China to improve relations with India?

Posted on 29th Mar 2022 by rohit kumar

China is continuously praising India's stand on Ukraine through its official statements and media reports. China is building bridges to praise India's policy by calling it independent.

 

According to Chinese media, a similar policy of India and China on Russia's attack on Ukraine can allow India and China to increase the warmth in their relations. The tension between the two countries has increased since the violent clashes in Galvan Valley in 2020.

 

During the visit of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to India on March 25, the two countries agreed on the need for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine. After the Galwan violence, Wang Yi was the first Chinese top official to visit India.

 

However, India's External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar told his Chinese counterpart that India would not separate the border issue from the overall relationship between the two countries.

 

Experts say that China will continue to expose India's stand on Ukraine as it wants to prove its vague stand on the issue before the international community.

 

Appreciation of India's foreign policy is not normal

 

There is two-way pressure on China from the western countries. First, China is constantly being asked to condemn Russia's action, secondly, Beijing is also expected to use its good relations with Russia to end the Ukraine crisis.

 

The state media of China is also adopting a soft attitude towards India. Anyway, he is adopting a diplomatic stance by not criticizing Russia's attack.

 

In an "in-depth" report published on March 16, China's state-run newspaper Global Times said that the Ukraine crisis has forced India to "rethink its relationship with the West" to maintain its "honorable position". Can get it again

 

The Chinese media has also come out in defense of India's decision to buy oil from Russia at subsidized rates.

 

He has even warned other hostile countries including the US not to create a ruckus about "India's legitimate oil trade with Russia".

 

After Wang Yi visits India, a Global Times editorial wrote that the Ukraine crisis mirrors "the common interests of India and China". This has exposed the uniformity in relations between India and China.

 

The Chinese government is also trying to highlight this uniformity in the Ukraine crisis.

 

Wang Yi said during a meeting with India's National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on March 25, "When China and India speak in one voice, the world will listen to them."

 

However, he did not directly mention the stand of the two countries regarding Ukraine during this period. But he said, "The cooperation between China and India will get the attention of the world."

 

A few days ago, a Chinese official in India, Xi Fe, praised the "self-reliant India" for buying oil from Russia despite international sanctions on Moscow through a tweet. However, there is a Twitter block in China.

 

Using the Ukraine crisis to downplay the importance of the Quod

 

Along with praising India's stand, it is also being constantly advised by China that India should reconsider relations with the Quadrilateral Alliance, ie Quad. The quad countries include Australia, Japan, America, and India. In recent weeks, China's state media has fiercely criticized one of the Quad member states in their reports.

 

The Global Times has reported in Chinese and English editions that Japanese PM Fumio Kishida failed to "bend" Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his stand on Ukraine during his visit to India on March 19.

 

The newspaper quoted Qian Fang, director of the research department at Tsinghua University's National Strategy Institute, as saying that India did not impose sanctions on Russia like the US, Australia, and Japan, which "shook the foundations of the quad".

 

China's official English newspaper China Daily also wrote the title of the editorial published on March 24 that India is not committed to giving yes to America. The article criticized US President Joe Biden's statement, in which he described India's position on Russian aggression as "lax".

 

The Global Times has also compared Australia and India on India's refusal to vote on the US-led motion to condemn Russia's action.

 

Also Read: Russia Ukraine War: Russia's counterattack, sanctions imposed on many top leaders including US President Biden, Foreign Minister Blinken

 

The newspaper wrote, "The Modi government is not as obedient to Washington as Australia. India is taking its stand with a cool mind keeping in mind its national interests and future strategic goals."

 

Indian experts also believe that Beijing is possibly using the Ukraine crisis to reduce the influence of the Quad.

 

Yogesh Gupta, who had been India's ambassador to Denmark, said in a conversation with Hong Kong's independent newspaper South China Morning Post (SCMP), "Wang Yi wanted to know whether India was in an alliance with Russia and China by staying away from America. May be involved, to weaken the quad."

 

Will the friendship deepen?

 

Chinese media praising the Indian stand and the sudden arrival of Wang Yi to India indicate that the relations between the two countries are returning to normal. Chinese media also highlighted PM Modi's tweet in which he expressed condolences over the plane crash on March 21.

 

However, despite signs of improving relations between both countries, India's External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar had made it clear in a press briefing after meeting Wang Yi that "the tension that has arisen due to increasing deployment of China's army since 2020 cannot be eliminated by normal relations." Indian news channel NDTV gave this information on its website.

 

Some Chinese experts have also mentioned the challenges in the way of normalizing bilateral relations between the two countries. Liu Zhongye, a scholar at the Shanghai Institute of International Studies, told the news commentary website Guancha that while India and the US have different stances on the Russia issue, they have similar views on keeping China "balanced and controlled".

 

Some experts believe that China will continue to highlight the similar stand of India and Beijing on the Ukraine war in the times to come, amidst heavy pressure from Western countries.

 

"The world is at a critical juncture and all South Asian countries, including India, have almost the same stance on the Ukraine crisis," researcher Zhao Gancheng from the Shanghai Institute for International Studies told SCMP ahead of Wang's visit.