Delhi says no meeting planned yet as China want troika with Russia
As US and its NATO allies mount pressure on Russia to end its conflict with Ukraine, as well as threaten India with secondary sanctions if it continues to buy oil from Moscow, China said it was ready to advance trilateral cooperation between Russia, India and China, also known as the “RIC format.”
Mindful, though, of its close ties with the US, especially on the eve of a trade deal it has been negotiating for some months with the Trump administration, government sources insisted on the condition of anonymity that “no meeting of the RIC format has been agreed to at this point of time and there are no discussions underway on its scheduling.”
On Thursday morning, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jiang had said that, “China stands ready to maintain communication with Russia and India on advancing the trilateral cooperation”.
In New Delhi, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, while answering media questions on the revival of Russia-India-China format, said, “The revival will be worked out among the countries in a mutually convenient manner.”
Jaiswal said the RIC was a consultative format where the three countries discussed global and regional issues of mutual interest. Jaiswal was asked his opinion on China and Russia showing keenness on reviving the format.
A few days back, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko said that Russia was negotiating the restoration of the Russia–India–China (RIC) format with Beijing and New Delhi. He pointed out that Russia remained positive towards promoting the operation of this mechanism.
Jaiswal, when asked if Prime Minister Narendra Modi would visit China for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) leaders summit, said “The SCO meeting is some months away. The participation by countries are finalised as per the mutual convenience. We will let everyone know at the appropriate time.”
Earlier this week, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar was in China and had met his counterpart Wang Yi and raised issues needing resolution such as the border dispute and Beijing’s restrictive trade practices.
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