Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed Russian leader Vladimir Putin as a “friend” while his government moved to bolster relations with China, another sign the South Asian nation is tilting away from the US in the face of Donald Trump’s tariff threats.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had been moving to align India with the United States and freeze out China. Now, efforts to rebuild ties between the Asian giants are gaining momentum.

China is India’s largest trading partner in goods, with the south Asian country exporting more than $14bn in the 2024-25 financial year and importing a record $113bn of goods.

India and China are aware of the “very high political, economic and military cost of frozen relations,” he says. “China felt it had pushed India too close to the U.S. while India realized that it was losing its vaunted strategic autonomy by getting too close to Washington and turning Beijing into an adversary.”

Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi yesterday discussed border peace, trade issues and bilateral

Narendra Modi said he received a phone call from his “friend” Vladimir Putin, who shared his insights on a recent meeting with Trump in Alaska, in another signal that ties between New Delhi and Moscow remain strong.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) -Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Monday discussed border peace, trade issues and bilateral exchanges, aiming to strengthen cooperation between the two countries.

Beijing has officially welcomed PM Modi to attend the SCO summit this month-end. However, “fence sitter” India could make a 180-degree turn to strike a deal with US President Trump and skip the SCO, some in China say.