Trump says India and Russia appear ‘lost’ to China

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Friday said India and Russia seem to have been “lost” to China after their leaders met with Chinese President Xi Jinping this week, highlighting his split from New Delhi and Moscow as Beijing pushes a new world order.

“Looks like we’ve lost India and Russia to deepest, darkest, China. May they have a long and prosperous future together!” Trump wrote in a social media post accompanying a photo of the three other world leaders together at Xi’s summit in China.

Asked about Trump’s post, the Indian foreign ministry spokesperson told reporters in New Delhi that he had no comment.

Representatives for Beijing and Moscow could not be immediately reached for comment on Trump’s post on his Truth Social platform.

Xi hosted more than 20 leaders of non-Western countries for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in the Chinese port city of Tianjin, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Putin and Modi were seen holding hands at the summit as they walked toward Xi before all three men stood side by side.

Modi’s warming ties with China comes as Trump has chilled US-India ties amid trade tensions and other disputes. Trump earlier this week said he was “very disappointed” in Putin but not worried about growing Russia-China ties.

Two blockbuster events in China this week were a successful exposition of President Xi Jinping’s vision of a new world order – one that puts him and his country firmly at its centre while sidelining his rival the United States.

Since Saturday, Xi has met with almost 30 world leaders around the edges of a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin and a huge military parade marking 80 years since World War II’s end.

No major Western powers sent leaders to either SCO or the parade, with Slovakia’s Robert Fico the only European Union member state head present.