Opinion | Can China and India salvage their relationship ‘reset’ at this week’s ‘other summit’ with Russia?

All eyes will be on Hanoi on Wednesday for the second summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. But 2,000km away in a quiet “water town” in China, another meeting will be taking place – one that is less well-known, but equally significant.

This other summit in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province, will feature the foreign ministers of Russia, India and China (RIC) – a grouping that has been long dormant, but is now becoming increasingly relevant.

It was only on November 30 that the leaders of the three countries had their first trilateral meeting in 12 years on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Buenos Aires. Over the preceding eight months, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had been to both Wuhan and Sochi for “informal summits” with Chinese President Xi Jinping – touted as a relationship “reset” – and Russian President Vladimir Putin, respectively.

Traditionally, the China-India relationship has been the weakest of the three and the biggest obstacle to the RIC grouping’s effectiveness. While economic and strategic ties between Beijing and Moscow only look to have deepened in recent years as the two gravitate towards each other in the face of growing global uncertainty, Russia also remains a long-standing and trusted defence partner for India.

New Delhi and Beijing, on the other hand, have a more troubled past – though the recent thaw in relations has helped inject new life into the trilateral grouping, especially at a time when India is seeking to exert itself more on the world stage and dispel notions that it is falling into America’s orbit.