US President Donald Trump on Friday targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin over their meeting with Chinese Premier Xi Jinping during the SCO summit this week.
“Looks like we’ve lost India and Russia to deepest, darkest, China. May they have a long and prosperous future together!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Trump’s explosive post comes as Putin and Modi, along with leaders of 26 other nations, met Xi in China’s Tianjin at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit. The summit was held amid 50 per cent tariffs imposed by the US on Indian imports and just weeks after Putin and Trump met in Alaska to discuss a ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine war.
While the talks achieved no breakthrough, Trump said on Thursday that he remains committed to pursuing a peace agreement despite mounting uncertainty over a one-on-one meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Randhir Jaiswal, Spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, refused to react to the post. “I have no comments to offer on this post at this time,” he said during a weekly press briefing on Friday in New Delhi.
Diplomatic and economic ties between Washington and New Delhi are reeling under the possibly worst phase in over two decades after the US imposed a 25 per cent tariff on Indian imports and Trump’s repeated claim of brokering a ceasefire between India and Pakistan. Washington slapped New Delhi with 25 per cent additional tariffs later for buying oil from Russia amid its war with Ukraine.
India has, however, maintained that its relationship with the US is that of a strategic partnership, and Jaiswal reiterated the same on Friday.
“As far as India-United States relations are concerned, we have said before that there is a comprehensive global strategic partnership between the two countries, and we want to work on this partnership and take it forward,” Jaiswal said during the press briefing.
“This relationship between the United States and India is very important for us. Both our countries share a comprehensive global strategic partnership, which is anchored in our shared interests, democratic values, and robust people-to-people ties,” said the MEA spokesperson.
“This partnership has weathered several transitions and challenges. We remain focused on the substantive agenda that our two countries have committed to, and we hope that the relationship will continue to move forward based on mutual respect and shared interests,” he added.
