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Shi Jiangtao

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.
In a thinly veiled rebuke of Trump’s policies, Xi also called on Jaishankar and other SCO representatives to “firmly oppose hegemony, power politics and bullying, and promote a more equal and orderly multipolar world.”
During their meeting, Wang invoked the notion of a “Dragon-Elephant Tango”, urging New Delhi to work together with Beijing to “build mutual trust rather than suspicion, pursue cooperation rather than competition, and help each other succeed rather than engage in mutual attrition”.
Jaishankar hailed “good progress” in normalising relations since Xi and Modi’s last meeting in Russia last October.
The two sides have since agreed to de-escalate tensions along their disputed Himalayan frontier, resumed direct flights, and facilitated visa processes earlier this year.
However, Jaishankar emphasised the importance of avoiding “restrictive trade measures and roadblocks,” a veiled reference to Beijing’s export controls on critical minerals.
“This is best done by handling relations on the basis of mutual respect, mutual interest, and mutual sensitivity,” he said, invoking an earlier understanding that “differences should not become disputes” and competition not become conflict.
While it is still too early to tell how far the Asian rivals are willing to reconcile, Moscow has again floated the idea of reviving a Russia-India-China mechanism to counter the US.
Originally proposed in the late 1990s, the notion of a strengthened troika has long been hindered by the China-India border dispute, Beijing’s strategic support for Pakistan, and New Delhi’s growing alignment with Washington.
While India remains cautious about the proposal, mindful of its potential to further strain ties with the Trump administration amid largely stalled tariff negotiations, Beijing has endorsed Moscow’s initiative.
“Cooperation among China, Russia, and India not only aligns with the respective interests of the three countries, but also contributes to regional and global peace, security, stability, and progress,” foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told a press briefing in Beijing last week.
But just days after Jaishankar’s visit, China officially announced the construction of a controversial mega-dam project on the Tibetan plateau, posing a fresh test for their fragile thaw.
According to Xinhua, the 1.2 trillion yuan (US$167 billion) project could generate three times as much energy as the Three Gorges Dam.
But the damming of the Yarlung Tsangpo, which flows south into India’s Arunachal Pradesh and Assam states before reaching Bangladesh as the Brahmaputra, has long been a source of friction.
Xinhua said the project would consist of five cascade dams situated around the city of Nyingchi.
Most of the generated electricity will be transmitted to other regions for external consumption, it added, despite concerns about an oversupply of power.
According to Chinese experts, the dam will be built in an area noted for its hydropower potential, rich biodiversity, fragile ecosystem and high seismic activity.
Beijing announced its approval of the long-rumoured project in December, but much of its details remain shrouded in secrecy, including its overall scale and whether a comprehensive scientific feasibility study was undertaken.
New Delhi has consistently voiced concerns about the dam’s potential impact on the environment and downstream water supplies, concerns the foreign ministry’s spokesman Guo Jiakun shrugged off earlier this year.


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News

China

Diplomacy

Beijing’s plans for the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet risk setting back recent efforts to improve relations between the two neighbours


Beijing’s plans for the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet risk setting back recent efforts to improve relations between the two neighbours.


India

Russia

Han Zheng

Xi Jinping

Narendra Modi

Donald Trump

Wang Yi

China’s foreign ministry

S. Jaishankar

Guo Jiakun

Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


Column

My Take

China’s latest mega-dam complicates thaw in ties with India

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Beijing’s plans for the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet risk setting back recent efforts to improve relations between the two neighbours

Beijing’s plans for the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet risk setting back recent efforts to improve relations between the two neighbours