Summitry & substance: SCO offers India an opportunity to reset diplomacy

A declining superpower led by a maverick president across the Pacific demands that India becomes proactive about its diplomatic pivots in its near neighbourhood

Enhanced trade, river-water sharing and improved relations with China were the visible takeaways from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s attendance at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in the Chinese port city of Qingdao over the weekend. Behind the pageantry and photo-ops that captured the first attendance by India’s head of government at the summit after the country became a full SCO member in June 2017 were signs of other gains that will be invaluable in the longer run. 

Opportunities for closer geo-political engagements were prominent among them. These were evident in multiple bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the main