Xi Jinping hosts global leaders at SCO summit; PM Modi, Putin, Sharif in front row

India Today

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among the leaders in the front row of the family photo at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Tianjin, China, on Sunday. Russian President Vladimir Putin stood next to Chinese President Xi Jinping, who hosted the summit and welcomed global leaders to the 25th edition of the annual gathering.    Xi Jinping, accompanied by his wife Peng Liyuan, hosted a banquet in the port city of Tianjin on the eve of the summit to formally receive the international dignitaries.    In the group photograph, PM Modi stood prominently alongside Xi, Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also joined the front row, underlining the presence of key regional players at the forum.    The Tianjin summit is being viewed as a critical platform for dialogue among member states, many of which share overlapping strategic and economic concerns. Modi’s positioning in the front row highlighted India’s continuing role in the SCO’s evolving dynamics.

Transcript

00:00And you know what? Trump, everything aside, sometimes give you these nuggets of information

00:06that usually don't come your way. And when he says that Putin and Zelensky cannot stand each other

00:12and hate each other, that does bring us to that issue that when two leaders of two nations who

00:19are at war, when there is no personal chemistry between them, when there is intense dislike

00:25between them, it becomes even more significant that a country that has been able to maintain

00:30cordial relationship with one and a friendly contact with another brings them together.

00:37So, you know, talking about this importance of India's role in possibly trying to bring some

00:44peace in that region, do tell us more about it, because we have seen that there has been

00:51a little bit of, you know, Ukraine's not been very open about how it wants to go ahead

00:57with the peace proposal. Putin also has been very adamant on the land issue, how much are

01:05they going to give in, how much they want. And EU, recently after Putin's, Russia's attacks

01:11on Kyiv, has also become extremely hostile. Well, we are getting these visuals now. Gaurav,

01:20I would like to inform you, right now we are getting the visuals of the minute when Prime

01:25Minister Modi walked in to this reception. He shook hands with the President and his wife

01:31as well, posed for the photograph. And once again, after shaking hands, he went ahead to the reception.

01:39So those were the visuals of the Prime Minister walking in for that reception that we were

01:44talking about. This is an informal occasion for the heads of states to meet and mingle.

01:51And you never know what comes out of these informal occasions. But Gaurav continues to be with us.

01:57Gaurav, picking up that, you know, thought that I was delving into, how important would the

02:03SEO be? And also, we have invited Xi Jinping to BRICS. Now, BRICS is something Trump keeps targeting

02:11again and again. So these regional summits that we have, how important are these? And now, with

02:18there being a possibility of Trump not coming to court, how important these regional summits become?

02:26So as far as India is concerned, India takes BRICS very seriously, India takes SEO very seriously and

02:36India takes, you know, even the Quad very seriously. Though not, you know, none of these are military

02:42groupings. BRICS is an economic grouping. These were the world's most powerful economies that were

02:48coming together. Different parts of the world, Brazil, Russia, India, China and then later South Africa.

02:56joined and then other countries want to join. And now there's a long list of countries who want to

03:00join the BRICS as a grouping. And that just shows how important and powerful BRICS as a grouping is.

03:06America, because there was some conversation about de-dollarization and India has repeatedly

03:12insisted that India is not on board on de-dollarization. So that project is not moving forward because

03:17every decision has to be by consensus and every founding member has equal say in every decision.

03:23So similarly, when Pakistan wanted to be a part of BRICS, it was very effectively vetoed because you

03:29don't want a state sponsor of radical Islamist terror to be a part of the world's fastest growing

03:35economies coming together and talking about the betterment of their region, their countries and

03:42the world in general. So this BRICS grouping becomes all the more important right now when you're talking

03:47about standing up to Trump's tariff tyranny. And this is where you see BRICS will play a significant

03:53role. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has invited the Chinese president to visit India for next year.

04:00India will be hosting the BRICS summit. But then this year, India is also hosting the Quad summit.

04:05And will President Donald Trump finally come or will he back out or will he back off from here?

04:11It remains to be seen because both Japan and India have adopted a very principled stance on Donald

04:18Trump and on his tariffs. Donald Trump, of course, has a different readout of what happened. Japan

04:23has a different readout of what transpired between the two. But the fact remains, if two of the four

04:29partners are not seeing eye to eye with the United States of America, India would still want this

04:34relationship to move forward. Because India anyway considers Trump's actions as wrong, unnecessary,

04:42arbitrary and completely uncalled for. And India has done nothing that should have that kind of a

04:49response. So is it more to do with Donald Trump on Russia war or Donald Trump not being recommended

04:56for a Nobel Peace Prize or India saying he had a big role to play in the ceasefire when he didn't have

05:02a role to play? Or should India have worded it differently saying that, yeah, he had a role to

05:07play in getting Pakistan to back off? There are many issues, you know, that that can be argued. But

05:11the fact remains, India does not believe in kowtowing, you know, either to America or to China or to

05:18anybody else. India is standing tall. There will be, as the Prime Minister said, there will be

05:23repercussions, there will be ramifications. He said he'll have personal costs to pay for it. But he's willing

05:28to pay that cost for not, you know, kowtowing to America or not doing a sajda to the United States

05:34of America, which clearly India is not. And, you know, on the other question that you raised,

05:40between Russia and Ukraine, frankly, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi had that five-hour long

05:46discussion with Vladimir Putin, he'd made it very clear. And at SCO earlier also that this is not an

05:51era of war. President Putin also understands that. He says, President Putin apparently is of the

05:58opinion that Ukrainian president within the first week of the special operations in February 2022

06:02had come to the conclusion that this conflict was unnecessary in Turkey. And it was a Turkey-Turkey

06:09mediated effort. He had agreed to sign a ceasefire, but Britain had stepped in and said, don't sign a

06:14ceasefire. And Boris Johnson had then gone to Kiev. And this war kept lingering on. So it was basically

06:20President Putin's impression is that it's Europe and America that were fueling this war using Ukraine

06:27as an excuse. Is that what is happening even now is the big question. And can India then prevail to

06:34ensure that Russia and Ukraine talk to each other and decide a way forward? It does appear extremely

06:41different. Why? Because one fact is clear, Russia will not cede any territory that it's gained with a

06:47loss of a lot of lives in this war. So that is why, unless Ukraine decides to cede territory,

06:54this war will either end up being endless or there will have to be a change of government,

06:59at least in Ukraine.

07:01Right. And this war has impacted many. It has impacted many economies as well. A loss of life

07:07is, of course, the biggest issue. But after that is also economies. It pushed up inflation in many

07:14countries. It pushed up living costs in many countries. And every time winter comes, it becomes

07:20a huge issue. But Europe, it seems to be now finding other sources of energy as well. But

07:26energy is also something that is a big issue in this war.

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