The Indo-Pacific strategic balance seems to be shifting forms with every tidal wave that the two oceans throw at our shores. The US, which has always been chary of India’s BRICS dalliance with China and Russia, has already publicly punished India by slapping an unprecedented 50 per cent tariff on its exports for buying huge stocks of Russian oil, even as US President Donald Trump was trying to get Moscow and Kyiv to sign a peace deal.

Consequently, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a conclave with Chinese Supremo Xi Jinping and President Vladimir Putin at Tianjin two months ago, it seemed to signal a shift in the Indo-Pacific power balance where hitherto India was ranged alongside the US, Japan, and Australia to defend the freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.

Tianjin seemed

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