China–Russia–India Trilateral Relations

Abstract

This article seeks to raise some fundamental conceptual issues underlying the trilateral project. Theoretically, big country relationships—especially neighbouring ones—have to be built on common interests, mutual trust and greater interdependence in mutual interests so that it cannot be set aside unilaterally by any one of the parties. This article questions whether trilateral cooperation was sustainable since China, India and Russia were neither strategic allies nor enemies; none of them shared common friends or enemies and it were only potential common interests that underpinned their interaction. The author envisages the basis of their cooperation in terms of a reaction to the post-Cold War, US-dominated world but argues that such a structure was not a pre-determined imperialist scheme which had to be changed through opposition and conflict. This reflected the traditional view of international politics and needed to be modified in a scenario where the US was also promoting a market economy-based system, endorsed by the others. Trilateral cooperation, the author contends, should be seen as a new model of cooperation, seeking common economic benefits but also operating on the basis of a broad consensus about seeking improvement in the imbalanced world order, without challenging the stability of the existing order. A potentially strong bond was their shared critique of the neo-liberal trend in international relations and while it could be seen as a minimum consensus, its significance should not be underestimated. Equally important was that the economic standing of all three in the global economy was fairly high and they were seen as the big emerging markets, even as the West generally remained dominant in the world economy.