(This article is part of the View From India newsletter curated by The Hindu’s foreign affairs experts. To get the newsletter in your inbox every Monday, subscribe here.)

“The setbacks we experienced in the past few years were not in the interest of the people of our two countries,” said Wang Yi, China’s Foreign Minister, on August 19, after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 19. “We are heartened to see the stability that is now restored in the borders,” Mr. Wang added, summing up the core message of his two-day visit. The visit was significant for several reasons. Both sides showed a willingness to downplay the boundary dispute and take steps towards strengthening overall bilateral relations, which hit the lowest point in decades following the 2020 Galwan clashes. India and China also announced a slew of tangible measures to improve ties, including resuming border trade at three points, restarting direct flights, expanding Kailash Manasarovar slots for pilgrims and relaxing visas. India wants China to ease export restrictions on rare earths, fertilizers and some machinery, while Beijing wants New Delhi to relax the scrutiny of Chinese investments—such discussions, along with the boundary question, will continue. Another significant development is Prime Minister Modi’s upcoming visit to Tianjin to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting, where he would meet Chinese President Xi Jinping.

What makes the rapprochement interesting is the larger foreign policy background in which it is unfolding. The India-U.S. relations are going through a rough phase due to the high tariffs U.S. President Donald Trump has imposed on India. The U.S. and India, after multiple rounds of talks, failed to reach a trade agreement, apparently because of differences in opening up India’s agricultural and dairy sectors. The Trump administration has imposed 25% tariffs on India after trade talks failed, and an additional 25%, which is expected to take effect this week, penalty tariffs over India’s energy ties with Russia. India believes the U.S. is singling out and attacking India over energy purchases from Russia, while China, the largest buyer of Russian oil, doesn’t face any penalty tariffs. The Trump disruptions in U.S.-India ties seem to have powered India’s pivot to the east, which was already in the works. On August 21, Chinese Ambassador in New Delhi Xu Feihong seemed to support India’s position against U.S. tariffs. China will “firmly stand” with India to uphold World Trade Organisation principles, said the ambassador. “The United States has long benefited greatly from free trade, but now it is using tariffs as a bargaining chip to demand exorbitant prices from various countries,” Mr. Xu added.

But a thaw in the relationship may not lead to a reset as there are still unresolved structural problems. After wrapping up his India visit, Mr. Wang left for Kabul where he met Afghan and Pakistani senior officials to discuss the extension of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor, which is part of President Xi’s Belt and Road Initiative, to Pakistan—India is opposed to both projects. From Kabul, Mr. Wang went to Islamabad where he met a host of Pakistani officials, including military chief Gen. Asim Munir. “China’s diplomatic support to Pakistan after the Pahalgam attacks and during Operation Sindoor did not come up during Mr. Wang’s visit, but provide an ominous overhang to ties, as did Ambassador Xu’s contention that Pakistan too is a victim of terrorism,” writes The Hindu in this editorial. “While the U.S.’s attack on Indian trade and economy may be spurring New Delhi’s efforts, the reset with China must not come from a perceived position of weakness, and the next steps must be taken keeping in focus the strategic challenge.”

Who is Wang Yi, the ‘silver fox’ of Chinese diplomacy? Read this profile of the Chinese Foreign Minister by Suhasini Haidar

Ranil under arrest

Sri Lanka’s former President and six-time Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe was on August 22 arrested on charges misusing state funds during his Presidency. The 76-year-old leader was remanded in custody until August 26, 2025, when the next hearing is due, reports Meera Srinivasan from Colombo. Sri Lanka’s former President and six-time Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe was on Friday (August 22, 2025) arrested on charges misusing state funds during his Presidency. The 76-year-old leader was remanded in custody until August 26, 2025, when the next hearing is due. The arrest triggered sharp responses from former Presidents and members of the political opposition. Addressing a media conference in Colombo on August 24, they accused the National People’s Power (NPP) government, led by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, of pursuing “political revenge”, contending that the charges against Mr. Wickremesinghe did not warrant arrest.

The Top Five

1. Alaskan winds, India and the Trump-Putin summit

The visible warmth in the Trump-Putin exchanges did not result in a less chilling American tone towards India; the lesson for New Delhi is that it would need to take a firmer stance if it wants to get back its agency, writes Suhasini Haidar.

2. What’s the issue with the way Africa is shown on maps? | Explained

There is no perfect way to flatten the surface of a sphere onto a rectangle, rendering every map a compromise, writes Vasudevan Mukunth.

3. Jerome Powell: Institutional voice

The U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman, who has come under constant attacks from President Trump, stands firm in protecting the autonomy of the central bank, writes Kunal Shankar.

4. Indians in Ireland: Building a home amid the hostility

On July 19, 2025, an Indian man was assaulted in the suburb of Tallaght in Dublin, Ireland. Since then, there have been several attacks against Indians in the green isle, causing alarm in the immigrant community. With politicians there riding on anti-immigrant rhetoric, the situation has worsened. Priyanka Borpujari reports on how the transformation of Ireland as a major immigrant destination has brought many challenges, reports Priyanka Borpujari.

5. Why Sri Lanka’s Tamils are flagging militarisation | Explained

Why did Sri Lanka’s prominent Tamil party, the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi, call a symbolic hartal? Is the presence of uniformed men visibly greater in the island nation’s north and east provinces? What has the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said about the situation in these provinces? writes Meera Srinivasan.

Published – August 25, 2025 04:34 pm IST

Watch: Highs and lows in neighbourhood ties: Is Delhi softening tone?

Is New Delhi making a subtle strategic outreach to its south Asian neighbourhood this season? Bhutan’s King, Sri Lanka and Maldives’ presidents, Nepal’s Foreign Minister received warm welcomes in Delhi.

As the Foreign Secretary travels to Dhaka, weeks after External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s visit to Islamabad, how will 2025 treat subcontinental ties, and how big will the China factor be?

Presentation: Suhasini Haidar

Editing: Kanishkaa Balachandran, Sabika Syed

Watch: India-Canada diplomatic crisis deepens as US elections heats up | The View from Washington

In this episode of The View from Washington, Sriram Lakshman explores the unravelling of diplomatic ties between India and Canada in the last few days, with insights into related US developments.

The episode also looks at how Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are reaching out to demographics that can help them win the US elections.

Reporting and direction: Sriram Lakshman

Editing: Aniket Singh Chauhan

(This article is part of the View From India newsletter curated by The Hindu’s foreign affairs experts. To get the newsletter in your inbox every Monday, subscribe here.)

Earlier in July, immediately after Prime Minister Modi wrapped up a bilateral summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, since first visit to Russia since the Ukraine war began in february 2022, the U.S.’s Ambassador in India made a rare public criticism of India’s Russia policy. “There is no such thing as strategic autonomy in times of conflict; we will, in crisis moments, need to know each other,” Ambassador Eric Garcetti said. In Washington DC, the State Department also expressed “concerns” over India’s ties with Russia, while National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan warned India of Russia’s deepening partnership with China. Public comments did not end there. On July 23, almost two weeks after Mr. Modi’s Russia visit, Donald Lu, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, told lawmakers at a Congressional hearing in Washington that the U.S. was “disappointed” about the symbolism and timing of Mr. Modi’s visit.

The overall trajectory of India’s strategic partnership with the U.S. seems steady. Many U.S. policymakers see the partnership with India as one of the most consequential bilateral relationships of the U.S. in the 21st century. They also see an economically growing, democratic India as an effective bulwark against the Communist Party-ruled China. In India, economic, defence and strategic partnership with the U.S. is seen as critical for the country’s continued rise as a major Asian power. But the disagreements lie in the details. India’s refusal to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its decision to ramp up energy trade with Moscow after it was sanctioned by the West did not go down well with Washington. Russia, cut off from the Western markets, found an economic lifeline in its booming trade with China and India, the world’s second and fifth largest economies, respectively.

In recent years, the India-U.S. partnership saw stress points in other areas as well. Indian nationals were accused of killing Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Khalistan separatist, in Canada last year. The U.S. government has also sought accountability from the Indian government over a plot to kill Sikh separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in New York. An Indian national is now in jail in the U.S. in connection with the case. India has denied any role in these incidents, but allegations have added to tensions in bilateral relations. And Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Russia, on the eve of a NATO summit in Washington whose main agenda was to strengthen Ukraine against the Russian invasion, seemed to have “disturbed” the Biden administration, as a Washington Post report claimed.

In its response, India’s Ministry of External Affairs said it values its strategic autonomy. “India, like many other countries, values its strategic autonomy. The U.S. Ambassador is entitled to his opinion. Obviously, we have different views,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said. “Our comprehensive global strategic partnership with the U.S. gives us the space to agree to disagree on certain issues, while respecting each other’s view-points,” he added.

What’s strategic autonomy, which India is fiercely protective about? “A simple definition of the concept is that countries should be able to make decisions that best serve their national interests, irrespective of the pulls and pressures from other parties,” I wrote in this July 19 Oped in The Hindu. And why is it significant for India? Watch the latest episode of Realpolitik, our video explainer column: What’s strategic autonomy and why is it important for India? | Realpolitik.

‘Victory for Maduro’

Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela’s President who claims to be a successor of Chavismo, the socialist ideology championed by the late, charismatic President, Hugo Chavez, “won” a third consecutive term in Sunday’s election, according to Venezuela’s election authorities. Mr. Maduro, a former bus driver-tuned-politician, won 51% of the vote, while his main rival Edmundo Gonzalez garnered 44%. Before the vote, opinion polls had stated that Mr. Maduro, who rose to power after Chavez died of cancer in 2013, was trailing. And he had warned of a civil war and bloodbath if he lost the election. Mr. Gonzalez was not the opposition’s original pick against Mr. Maduro. Maria Corina Machado, arguably the most popular opposition leader who won the opposition primaries, was disqualified by the Supreme Court for supporting another opposition figure Juan Guaido’s rebellion against Mr. Maduro.

On Mr. Maduro’s watch, Venezuela’s economy, also battered by U.S. sanctions, contracted by 80% in 10 years. According to UNHCR, more than 7.7 million Venezuelans fled the country in a decade. In 2013, when Chanez passed away, Venezuela had a household poverty rate of 33.1% and extreme poverty at 11.4%, down from 61.5% and 30%, respectively, in 2003. In 10 years, the figures jumped to 82% and 53%, respectively. In other words, Mr. Maduro oversaw the total collapse of Venezuela’s economy. And he still managed to “win’ another term, extending his rule for six more years. What’s Maduro’s politics and how did he emerge as a strong man? Read this profile of the Venezuelan leader, written by my colleague Srinivasan Ramani: Nicolas Maduro | Chavism’s designated successor.

Sri Lanka to hold elections

Sri Lanka’s presidential elections will be held on September 21, the Election Commission announced on July 26. Some 17 million voters will have their first chance of electing the country’s leader, after a mass people’s uprising ousted former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa two years ago. President Ranil Wickremesinghe was among the first to formally get into the fray. His office announced making a cash deposit at the Commission for his candidacy as an independent, although he has relied on the Rajapaksas’ Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP or People’s Front) since his rise to Presidency through an urgent parliamentary vote, after Mr. Gotabaya’s resignation, reports Meera Srinivasan, from Colombo.

The Top Five

1. The ‘geo-calculus’ of the Moscow visit

There was one clear message — of the sure bet the Narendra Modi government has placed on India-Russia ties, writes Suhasini Haidar.

2. The importance of both Quad and BRICS

With India being the only country common to both Quad and BRICS and a founding member of both, it cannot afford to downplay one for the other, writes retired diplomat T.S. Tirumurti.

3. Between a fascist past and Right-wing present, Italy is fighting its many battles

Bursting at its seams with immigrants from the Global South and with a Right-wing government in power, Italy under Meloni finds itself in the eye of the identity politics storm; what complicates the matter further is the country’s perception as being on the wrong side of the not-so-long-ago history, Nishtha Gautam reports from Rome.

4. A new push in the Bay of Bengal

The intent of BIMSTEC member states to push forth with a bold vision for the region was evident at the 2nd Foreign Ministers’ Retreat, write Harsh V Pant and Sohini Bose.

5. Special relationship: On U.S. policy on Israel

The welcome Mr. Netanyahu received at Congress shows that he has the support of the elites. But the protest on the streets and the dissenting voices even among lawmakers suggest that the national consensus on Israel is eroding in the U.S., The Hindu writes in this editorial.

Beijing:

China hit back on Monday after G7 leaders warned Beijing to stop sending weapons components to Russia, saying their end-of-summit statement was “full of arrogance, prejudice and lies”.

When Group of Seven leaders met last week in Italy, souring trade relations with Beijing as well as tensions over Ukraine and the South China Sea were a focus of their discussions.

The statement released at the end of the summit said China was sending dual-use materials to Russia which were helping Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

Using stronger language than at last year’s summit, the G7 statement also criticised China’s “militarisation, and coercive and intimidation activities” in the South China Sea.

On Monday China’s foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said the statement had “slandered and attacked China”.

It had “rehashed cliches that have no factual basis, no legal basis, and no moral justification, and are full of arrogance, prejudice and lies,” he said at a regular press briefing.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

This week marked a new chapter in India’s 20 year old interest in a port in Iran- Chabahar. On a visit to Tehran, Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and his Iranian counterpart oversaw the signing of an agreement to develop the Shahid Beheshti terminal- one terminal in the warm water port just off Iran’s Sistan Baluchistan province.

Broadly, here are the terms of the agreement.

The Long term contract signed is for 10 years- earlier, the two sides had signed an MoU in 2016, part of a trilateral agreement with Afghanistan for the development of the port, but it could not be converted into a long term contract for a number of reasons- changes in the jt venture partners, the slow pace of Indian investment etc.

India has committed US $120 million, and a credit line of US $250 million to develop the terminal. This is a small amount compared to the other big projects in the region, but it’s a start.

Thus far the terminal has a modest operation, 6 harbour cranes, and other equipment worth $25 million- to handle about 8.5 million metric tonnes of cargo, mostly between India and Iran and India and Afghanistan, but the plan is for a 4-phase development of its capacity to 82 million tons per year and 32 jetties.

The Contract is between India Ports Global and Ports and Maritime Organisation of Iran. Earlier the joint venture was with the Aria Banader Iranian Port & Marine Services Company. The contract contains a clause to extend the lease of the port terminal to India after 10 years as well.

But here’s where trouble struck. In a US State department briefing, its spokesperson, when asked about the deal, raised the risk of potential sanctions. When asked if there would be an exemption for this, the spokesperson said no.

That “No” at the end is the most significant part of his statement. Why? Because in 2018, the US had introduced an amendment to its Iran Freedom and CounterProliferation Act (IFCA), allowing an exemption from very stringent sanctions on any company doing business in Iran –

1. For Humanitarian aid to Iran

2. For any assistance and support to Afghanistan (which is what Chabahar was designated as).

3. A temporary waiver of 6 months to India, China and other countries for the import of oil from Iran. While China continued its oil imports from Iran after the 6 months ran out, India bowed to the Trump administration’s pressure, and stopped all oil imports.

The US State department has not clarified its statement so far- but if it is changing policy, it may be for a number of reasons:

1. The US pulled out from Afghanistan in 2021, and no longer wishes to support Kabul under the Taliban regime.

2. The US wants to dissuade India from broadening Chabahar’s scope to the INSTC and trade with Russia – even with the exemptions, India has had to slow down investments in Chabahar, has found it hard to find suppliers and insurers for its shipments, and plans to build the Chabahar Railway line have been dropped.

3. The Biden administration is getting tougher on Iran, especially under fire from Trump in an election year, and is narrowing its exemptions for Chabahar as well.

On the other hand, many believe the US is unlikely to follow through on its threat, given its previous records on threatening sanctions.

1. In 2017, the US had threatened sanctions on Chabahar as well as India’s oil imports from Iran and Venezuela. On Chabahar it gave an exemption, but India pulled out of a number of oil investments and cancelled imports from Iran and Venezuela.

2. Prior to 2018, US had threatened India in 2012 to cancel Iranian oil imports, but New Delhi at the time had not agreed, no sanctions followed.

3. With Russia- the US threatened CAATSA sanctions over India’s purchase of the S-400 systems, but has not followed through, although its acted against China and Turkey.

The US has banned a handful of Indian companies in its sanctions regime, including one for selling dual use tech to Russia, but nothing like it has done with other countries including China- a testament to India’s importance.

Why Chabahar, Iran connectivity ties matter

1. Ties with Iran part of traditional diplomacy, alternative to Pakistan, access to central asia.

2. Chabahar and INSTC balance India’s west asia policy with I2U2 and IMEEC.

3. India is part of multilateral platforms with Iran: SCO and BRICS.

4. Backtracking on oil imports, other deals has cost India, Chabahar is now the lynchpin of ties

Worldview Take

With all the problems the US has this year, including Ukraine, Gaza, the Iran-Israel tussle, ties with China and others, it is hardly likely to open a new front with India over Chabahar. However, New Delhi must keep an eye on US Congress, which could take a tougher line, even after US elections, even as it moves to shore up flagging ties with Iran. Eventually, diplomacy is the art of letting others have your way, and not one of constant brinkmanship.

Script and Presentation: Suhasini Haidar

Production: Shibu Narayan and Ananyaa Desikan