 "China's strategic handshake with Russia")
Last week, at the Moscow State Institute for International Relations, perhaps Russia's most prestigious and influential foreign policy breeding ground, Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke to his audience in words that revealed as much as they hid.
"We are living through an era of flux and change," Xi said, and without mentioning the US by name, adding, "No country or bloc of countries can again single-handedly dominate world affairs."
Xi's visit to Moscow, his first abroad as President, was largely ignored in India, not only because of the theatrics surrounding the DMK's pullout from the UPA coalition and the subsequent vote against Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva but also because of the abiding media obsession over the return of former dictator Pervez Musharraf to Pakistan on Sunday.
From Russia, Xi will travel to Tanzania, the Congo and South Africa, where he will also attend the Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa or BRICS summit.
The China-Russia trade relationship is at a paltry $80 billion compared to the approximately $500 bn figure between China and the US (India-China is currently at $72 bn, having slipped a bit after the export of iron ore to China was banned) and both sides signed some 35 agreements to promote both missile defence and greater cooperation in energy issues.
In particular, the Chinese side agreed to give a $2 bn loan to Russian energy major Rosneft for 25 years, which Russia will repay in oil. Xi made no bones about China's mainline interest in Russia's natural resources. "Oil and gas pipelines have become the veins connecting the two countries in a new century," he said, indicating the Chinese are hoping to repeat the model in Russia's Far East that they undertook in Central Asia and Myanmar five years ago, when they built pipelines to carry oil and gas to Chinese terminals (the pipeline from Myanmar's Arakan coast to Yunan province in China will be ready in May).
In contrast, India has been unable to address the concerns of Russia's biggest private investor, telecom giant Sistema, caught in the imbroglio around the telecom spectrum affair. There is now talk of Sistema, largely owned by Russian oligarch Vladimir Yevtushenkov and a close friend of Putin himself, pulling out of India.
With India-Russia trade still hovering around the $10 bn barrier, Delhi's inability to show its hand in favour of an old friend could damage the bilateral relationship. Publicly, the Russians aren't likely to criticise bilateral ties but like several other international powers, they are beginning to see the limits of India's vision of itself as a serious partner.
Each week that hits a new political low in India, the newly installed Chinese leadership looks better and better. Xi has explicitly spoken of the tough line the new China, under him, will take against corruption, thereby taking cognisance of a rising people's anger against it.
Last month, China's State Council under the new leadership unveiled an ambitious plan, as part of Xi Jinping's slogan of the "great revival of the Chinese nation", to address income inequality. Simultaneously, China will make strides towards enhancing pension and health care.
In contrast, the Indian government's attempts to expand economic reform - its most ambitious measures being to put a two per cent corporate social responsibility surcharge on private companies and a 10 per cent surcharge on the "super-rich" - lack both internal coherence and political will.
"We are living through an era of flux and change," Xi said, and without mentioning the US by name, adding, "No country or bloc of countries can again single-handedly dominate world affairs."
Xi's visit to Moscow, his first abroad as President, was largely ignored in India, not only because of the theatrics surrounding the DMK's pullout from the UPA coalition and the subsequent vote against Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva but also because of the abiding media obsession over the return of former dictator Pervez Musharraf to Pakistan on Sunday.
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South Asia's sound and fury was matched by the controlled pomp with which the Russia received the Chinese, the world's foremost economic power. Xi was reaching out to Russian President Vladimir Putin who has been in the crosshairs of the Western world for some time. Both leaders realise they need to find common ground more than ever, even as they promised not to interfere in the human rights conditions of the other nation.
From Russia, Xi will travel to Tanzania, the Congo and South Africa, where he will also attend the Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa or BRICS summit.
The China-Russia trade relationship is at a paltry $80 billion compared to the approximately $500 bn figure between China and the US (India-China is currently at $72 bn, having slipped a bit after the export of iron ore to China was banned) and both sides signed some 35 agreements to promote both missile defence and greater cooperation in energy issues.
In particular, the Chinese side agreed to give a $2 bn loan to Russian energy major Rosneft for 25 years, which Russia will repay in oil. Xi made no bones about China's mainline interest in Russia's natural resources. "Oil and gas pipelines have become the veins connecting the two countries in a new century," he said, indicating the Chinese are hoping to repeat the model in Russia's Far East that they undertook in Central Asia and Myanmar five years ago, when they built pipelines to carry oil and gas to Chinese terminals (the pipeline from Myanmar's Arakan coast to Yunan province in China will be ready in May).
In contrast, India has been unable to address the concerns of Russia's biggest private investor, telecom giant Sistema, caught in the imbroglio around the telecom spectrum affair. There is now talk of Sistema, largely owned by Russian oligarch Vladimir Yevtushenkov and a close friend of Putin himself, pulling out of India.
With India-Russia trade still hovering around the $10 bn barrier, Delhi's inability to show its hand in favour of an old friend could damage the bilateral relationship. Publicly, the Russians aren't likely to criticise bilateral ties but like several other international powers, they are beginning to see the limits of India's vision of itself as a serious partner.
Each week that hits a new political low in India, the newly installed Chinese leadership looks better and better. Xi has explicitly spoken of the tough line the new China, under him, will take against corruption, thereby taking cognisance of a rising people's anger against it.
Last month, China's State Council under the new leadership unveiled an ambitious plan, as part of Xi Jinping's slogan of the "great revival of the Chinese nation", to address income inequality. Simultaneously, China will make strides towards enhancing pension and health care.
In contrast, the Indian government's attempts to expand economic reform - its most ambitious measures being to put a two per cent corporate social responsibility surcharge on private companies and a 10 per cent surcharge on the "super-rich" - lack both internal coherence and political will.