Beijing Likely To Hold A Russia-India-China Summit
The first Informal Summit of RIC Leaders was held on the sidelines of the G-8 Summit in St. Petersburg (Russia) in July 2006. Regular RIC foreign ministerial meetings have been organized, with the last one being hosted virtually by India in November of 2021.
So far, 18 RIC foreign ministers’ meetings have happened. The first informal meeting of RIC took place in New York in September 2002 on the sidelines of the 57th session of the UN General Assembly. After Russian President Putin’s summits with Indian PM Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in December of 2021, top Russian official Yuri Ushakov said that a RIC summit could happen in the near future. Then Russian envoy Nikolay Kudashev also indicated that it could happen in the “near future”.
After a gap of 12 years, Russia organised the RIC summit on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Argentina in November 2018. It was followed by India holding a RIC summit on the sidelines of the Osaka G20 summit in 2019. Since then, no summit has been possible due to the COVID crisis, and the next turn is for China to hold the summit.
Moscow says that now it is up to Beijing to hold the next Russia-India-China summit in accordance with Latin alphabetical order.
In response to a question, Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova, in a weekly presser by the foreign ministry, said, “Today the initiative of holding the RIC summit is up to China, and we are ready to comprehensively support dialogue in this format.”
Zakharova highlighted that the RIC meeting is a “dialogue between three major powers of Asia who bear special responsibility for upholding security to improve the architecture of international relations in the Asia Pacific region and for the development of economic integration in the Eurasian region,” adding, “Our position is well known to our partners in Beijing and New Delhi.”
In response to a parliamentary question on key issues discussed at the RIC meeting, minister of state in MEA V Muraleedharan said, “Discussions in RIC meetings pertain to common opportunities and challenges like terrorism, climate change, COVID-19 pandemic, etc.” It also provides a useful platform for the exchange of views on regional, multilateral, and global issues of interest. “
The big question remains, with aggressive Chinese action in the region, particularly with India, where the summit will take place. In 2020, due to aggressive actions by China at the line of actual control, India lost 20 of its soldiers in the Galwan area. According to official estimates, China lost 4 of its soldiers, but doubt remains on these figures, with Russian media quoting figures of more than 40.
