STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Today, China's president is hosting leaders from across Eurasia.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Those attending include Russia's leader - an adversary of the United States - and also the prime minister of India, a nation the U.S. has cultivated for many years as a friend. Lately, though, the Trump administration has been pushing India away. So how might China take advantage?
INSKEEP: NPR international correspondent Diaa Hadid is following this story. Hi there, Diaa.
DIAA HADID, BYLINE: Hi, Steve.
INSKEEP: OK. So what's the context to this summit?
HADID: The context appears to be Trump's remaking of foreign policy, which has felt pretty unpredictable for much of the world, like tariffs on friends, the European Union and India, initial hostility to Ukraine, now peace talks. So since 2001, China sought to align Asian nations and former Soviet countries in part through this grouping called the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
INSKEEP: OK.
HADID: It's happened in fits and starts, though, but this summit appears to be the most important. It's certainly the largest, and it may well be because China sees an opening.
INSKEEP: Do you mean an opening to lure American friends and allies more closely to China?
HADID: Yes, although we can't see any tangibles so far from the summit, but it may well be that the optics right now are the most important thing. President Xi has used this platform to denounce bullying behavior. He's made a point about the world not just having one superpower. He's offered millions of dollars of aid and loans to member countries. And consider the picture - all these leaders are gathering around Xi because they may well like to improve relations with China as insurance. And most important of them all is India.
INSKEEP: Why would India need as insurance to be a little bit closer to its neighbor and sometimes enemy, China?
HADID: Because President Trump's second administration has blown apart decades of bipartisan policy that brought India closer as a way of forming a bulwark against China. He's damaged those relations, analysts tell us, by imposing 50% tariffs on many exports - ostensibly punishment for India being a major buyer of Russian oil. And nearly every day, Trump or his administration insult India or its leader. Most recently, trade adviser Peter Navarro described India as a laundromat for the Kremlin on Fox News.
INSKEEP: OK. So I mean, I get the complaint India has been buying Russian oil. The United States would rather that stop, and there's also this kind of personal beef between the prime minister and the president. But is India actually getting closer to China as a result?
HADID: This is interesting because China and India, remember, they're neighbors. They share a border of over 2,000 miles through the Himalayas, although that border where it should lie remains in dispute. It's a fundamental tension between them, and it remains unresolved. And there were some tangibles that happened before this meeting, but nothing at the summit. And that's perhaps a sign. Analysts tell us, look at the group picture. There's China's Xi, and then to his right, the leader of Kazakhstan, and then Modi.
None of this is an accident. This is visual language to indicate that India comes to this meeting as being more vulnerable. Like, on this, I spoke to Sidharth Raimedhi. He's a fellow at the Council for Strategic and Defense Research - it's based in New Delhi. And he says, look, a weakened India may well strengthen China's hand vis-a-vis the United States.
SIDHARTH RAIMEDHI: If the U.S. is still intent on balancing China, it could be underestimating the ways in which this present disruption could force India towards a relationship with China.
RAIMEDHI: A relationship with China that is fundamentally unequal and has been made more unequal, he says, by Trump's tariffs and this daily browbeating. And effectively, he says, one way you can understand President Xi hosting this massive summit is that America has actually strengthened Beijing's hand in the world.
INSKEEP: NPR's Diaa Hadid. Thanks so much.
HADID: You're welcome, Steve. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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