India and China are aware of the “very high political, economic and military cost of frozen relations,” he says. “China felt it had pushed India too close to the U.S. while India realized that it was losing its vaunted strategic autonomy by getting too close to Washington and turning Beijing into an adversary.”

In Russia, barter is back for the first time since the chaos of the 1990s as settlement problems resulting from the conflict in Ukraine have forced at least one Chinese company to seek steel and aluminium alloys in exchange for engines.

China has nearly doubled imports of Russia’s discounted Urals crude as India scales back purchases under U.S. pressure.

President Donald Trump is meeting with Vladimir Putin, and security analysts caution that China views the talks as a test case for potential aggression in the Indo-Pacific region.

For perspective on Monday's meetings at the White House and the negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, Geoff Bennett spoke with Charles Kupchan and David Kramer. Kupchan served on the National Security Council staff during the Obama and Clinton administrations,

Threatened by Washington with 50% tariffs, India, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has responded by turning to its powerful neighbors. The Indian foreign minister is set to visit Russia soon, while the Chinese foreign minister is expected in New Delhi on Monday.

China bought $50.6 billion worth of crude oil from Russia from March to December, up 45% from the same period the previous year. Coal imports surged 54% to $10 billion.

By Nizom Khodjayev in Astana It’s not too hard to imagine Russia getting completely shut out of Kazakhstan’s move into nuclear energy and China taking the whole pie. As things stand, Beijing, Moscow’s main geopolitical competitor in Central Asia,