Increased challenges to Indian diplomacy

In the coming months, Indian diplomacy will face multiple challenges

- HARSHA KAKAR

Leadership summits for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the G20 are scheduled in June and Sept respectively. While the G20 meeting will be dominated by Ukraine with the West seeking a reference targeting Russia in the joint statement, the SCO summit will attempt to blame the US for fueling the war as also for its selective targeting of China and Russia. India will have to navigate its way through the summits to ensure that statements emerging at the end are balanced.

While the G20 is dominated by the West, the SCO comprises landlocked Central Asian nations as also South Asia. For G20 members, Ukraine is close to home and hence a matter of concern. Its members have grudgingly accepted India’s neutrality. Last year the US had demanded that Russia be expelled from the G20, a move which failed to find traction amongst its members.

The SCO is dominated by China and Russia, both of whom are anti-US and consider it as a competitor. With the entry of Iran into the SCO, the anti-US tirade could become more pronounced. India is a member of the Quad and a close US ally, apart from maintaining good diplomatic ties with both camps. Indian diplomacy will have to ensure that neither summit ends up in mudslinging.

India is also a member of the RIC (Russia-India-China trilateral) whose leaders are expected to meet on the sidelines of the SCO. In between the SCO and G20 summits is the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) summit scheduled in Johannesburg in end August. The recently concluded foreign affairs ministers’ meet of the G20 brought the Russian and US counterparts face to face paving the way for dialogue.