In the face of fresh attempts by China and Russia to revive the dormant Russia-India-China (RIC) trilateral dialogue, Indian diplomatic sources have clarified that there has not been any such meeting agreed upon so far.
“No meeting of the RIC format has been agreed to at this point in time. There are no discussions underway on its scheduling,” said a source, dismissing speculation on the revival of the format.
MEA Holds Non-Committal Stance
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) also kept mum when questioned regarding the RIC mechanism in its weekly press conference. Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “This is a mechanism where three countries come together to discuss global and regional issues. When this meeting happens, we will work out a mutually convenient date and let you know.”
The trilateral Russia-India-China dialogue, conceived as an Eurasian check against Western hegemony, has had more than 20 ministerial-level meetings since being initiated by then-Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov. Yet it has been dormant in the last few years, particularly after the India-China standoff along their border in Eastern Ladakh in 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic-induced global disruption.
In June, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had spelt out Moscow’s interest in restoring the format. “I would like to confirm our genuine interest in earliest resumption of the work within the format of troika – Russia, India, China,” Lavrov said, underlining the dialogue’s legacy and strategic significance.
China Repeats Support for RIC Dialogue
China has been backing Russia’s effort to revive the RIC mechanism, arguing that it would be in the interests of the three nations and help promote regional and global stability.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko affirmed ongoing talks with both Beijing and New Delhi.
“This topic appears in our negotiations with both of them. We are interested in making this format work, because these three countries are important partners, besides the founders of BRICS,” Rudenko said in an interview with the Russian news agency Izvestia. He further commented that the lack of this trilateral format “looks inappropriate.”
India’s Strategic Dilemma: RIC vs. Quad
In spite of Moscow and Beijing’s efforts, geopolitical tensions continue. India’s engagement with the Quad, an informal coalition with the US, Japan, and Australia, makes its involvement in RIC more complicated. China views the Quad as a group to contain its growth, raising questions about trilateral trust and cooperation.
India continues to assert that no meeting of RIC has taken place, and there is no plan in the offing to restart the format.
