New Delhi began to change its stance when Narasimha Rao became Prime Minister. The processed continued during the time of Dr Manmohan Singh. But the country went from one pole to the other as it became a strategic ally of the U.S.  This volte-face began to affect India as Moscow moved closer to China and a new cold war broke out.

The diplomatic problem of the Indian elephant became more complex as the Russian bear and the Chinese panda, traditional rival of New Delhi, found America a common enemy.  The conundrum of New Delhi was that Russian armaments and weapons still the main workhorse of its military, India cannot afford to antagonize Russia.

The Modi Government reset its move and went ahead with buying S-400 missiles from Russia ignoring the threats of sanctions from Washington. At the same time the country has kept on strengthening its military and diplomatic ties with the U.S. and Japan, which need India’s greater role in Indo-Pacific region.  There is a convergence of interest of the three countries as they all face threat from China.

On the sidelines of the G-20, India, Japan and the U.S. had a meeting in a trilateral format. The three countries with an ostensible eye on China called for “free, open, inclusive and rule-based’ order in the Indo-Pacific region.  Soon after the meeting, the Prime Minister in a tweet described it “historic”. Mr. Modi said that the three countries would “continue to work together on shared values”.  The Prime Minister coined a new acronym for the three countries—Japan, America and India—JAI which means victory.

Least the feathers of the Chinese panda is not ruffled, Modi displayed open support and bonhomie with Chinese President Xi  Jinping by siding with Beijing on the issue of a trade war. Albeit China is the main target of Donald Trump’s ire on the trade issue, India too remains in the cross-hairs of Washington. By siding with Beijing, Modi has achieved two things. On the one hand, he has proved that India is not out to isolate Beijing completely, it too would like the U.S. to soften its stand on trade vis-à-vis India.     

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