On October 23, 2024, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Chinese President Xi Jingping at the BRICS summit that is taking place in Kazan, Russia. This was their first meeting since 2020, when forces from both countries clashed at the border and ties between the countries nosedived. However, in an unprecedented move, the two countries came to an agreement earlier this week on the Ladakh border, bringing an end to the four-year military standoff.

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While there is much analysis, observation, and prediction on the future of the India-China relationship, what is undeniable is the significance of this step towards a resolution. Considering that one of the main challenges to India’s foreign policy is China, which has its own vision backed by its own capacities, drawing towards it many countries, the fact is today India is refusing to play second fiddle to anyone. India is clear that the state of its borders will determine the state of a relationship.

Irrespective of the agreement, de-escalation and de-induction of the forces from the border would be a complicated matter and are likely to take considerable time. Additionally, the dispute between India and China has historical moorings, and one agreement is unlikely to wash away the trust deficit and the question surrounding China’s future ambitions. India and China at this point may be responding to world events, but questions of regional order, old border disputes, power asymmetry, as well as moving towards a multipolar world will all be areas that will need to be tackled at some point.

But what is clear as of now is that India’s foreign policy is ready to adjust to a broader multipolar world, a definitive shift from a unipolar world. India’s policymakers have managed to carve out its autonomous needs with a multi-alignment, multi-directional foreign policy. While China’s ambitions for a unipolar Asia , Sino-Pak collusion, and the CPEC cannot be ignored, India must continue to focus on the policy of engagement with China, with its primary strategy being investing in deterrence for the foreseeable future. China too is making tactical adjustments with countries like Japan; therefore, the time is ripe to bring to a conclusion pending issues, a factor not lost on India showcasing how India’s dynamic foreign policy has successfully resolved one of the most intractable problems of Indian diplomacy while strengthening BRICS.

But China is not the only example in recent times of India’s transformative foreign policy. In the last few years, India has managed to retrieve situations that were considered beyond redemption. For instance, when Kabul fell to the Taliban, it was touted as India’s defeat and Pakistan’s victory. However, as situations exist today, India is cautious with the Taliban; on the other hand, Pakistan is having problems with the rise of the Taliban, an event that they had celebrated.

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In the more recent past, President Mohamed Muizzu of the Maldives recently visited India, much to the amusement of many observers and analysts apart from those on social media. It was not long ago that there was a huge backlash from Indians following derogatory remarks against India and Prime Minister Modi. Three Maldivian ministers were suspended by the Muizzu-led government amidst calls for an artificially promoted “India Out” campaign. His subsequent visit to China was perceived as a pro-China stance in contrast to the previous pro-India government in the Maldives ruffling Indian media and social media.

Consequently, Modi encouraged tourists to visit Lakshadweep, resulting in a drop in tourism of 33 per cent to the Maldives. The economic consequences of which were not lost on Maldivians considering Indians are the second largest tourist market for the Maldives and tourism makes up nearly 30 per cent of the Maldivian GDP. Though many analysts argued that Muizzu was not choosing China over India but rather leveraging the difficult relationship between China and India for his benefit.

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Nevertheless, on his trip to India in September 2024, Muizzu reasserted the importance of the historic and cultural ties between India and the Maldives and his administration’s full commitment to a stronger relationship between the two countries. It seemed like a complete U-turn from the previous sentiments displayed in his actions. Even though PM Modi didn’t utter a word against the government in the Maldives, not only did the anti-India sentiment die down as quickly as it came up, but just a few months later Muizzu’s trip was announced.

Significantly, the trip was more than a pacification visit to an important neighbour. India and the Maldives signed agreements to transform the bilateral relationship into a “Comprehensive Economic and Maritime Security Partnership”. India also signed an agreement for a bilateral currency swap to extend $400 million in support to the Maldives to tide over its present financial crisis, amongst many other pacts, such as launching the Rupay card in the Maldives. India not only displayed a mature diplomatic stance towards the Maldives but also showcased mutual trust between the two countries.

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In chaos-ridden Myanmar too, India has kept its communication open. It has enjoyed good relations with the military regime in Naypyidaw as well as the democratic forces and its umbrella group, the National Unity Government (NUG). Furthermore, India has kept its channels open with various Ethnic Armed Organisations (EAO’s) that control vast territories of Myanmar at the moment. India is cognisant about safeguarding its infrastructural assets, such as the Kaladan multimodal transit project, the trilateral Asian highway, or its ambitious Act East policy in Myanmar. Additionally, India has provided humanitarian aid to civilians and given refuge to thousands fleeing the conflict in Myanmar. However, India can ramp up its Track 2.0 activities, building bridges amongst the Indian and Myanmarese diaspora, think tanks, scholars, and analysts.

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Even with Bangladesh, the ouster of Sheikh Hasina’s government was seen as a huge diplomatic disaster for India, and anti-Hasina demonstrators were found chanting anti-India slogans. But as with other neighbours, the situation in Bangladesh has also been retrieved to a great extent, and India has reasonably good working relations with the interim administration while providing shelter to Sheikh Hasina and her associates. Interestingly, popular narrative suggests that most politicians across party lines as well as civil society have already started reminiscing about the “good old days”.

In Sri Lanka too, there was a time when the Rajapaksas had become extremely authoritarian and had taken an anti-India stand. However, India successfully helped the opposition come together, resulting in the victory of President Sirisena. Subsequently, when Gotabaya Rajapaksa came to power, India continued to maintain good relations with Gotabaya. When he was ousted after severe demonstrations by the local population, India not only maintained good relations with the Ranil Wickremesinghe government but was also at the forefront of providing aid to allow Sri Lanka to tide over the severe economic crisis in which it had landed. And after the recent elections, which have brought an avid left-wing candidate, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, to power, Indian foreign minister S Jaishanker was among the first foreign dignitaries to visit Colombo.

These are merely the recent neighbourhood developments for India. But India’s deft diplomacy and dynamic foreign policy have learnt to evolve and transform depending on the circumstances to suit India’s interests. Neither has India’s foreign policy restricted itself by dogmatic limitations nor by populist public sentiments. India actively seeking solutions to intractable problems and making headway, such as the case with China, is evidence of its transformative foreign policy. While some political parties across the world will, as a part of their internal political strategy, try to manipulate sentiments against India to rouse a subnationalist wave, one must remember that this is a price one pays for becoming one of the most important countries in the world.

Rami Niranjan Desai is an anthropologist and a scholar of the northeast region of India. She is a columnist and author and presently Distinguished Fellow at India Foundation, New Delhi. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of Firstpost.