These three countries seem set to tighten up and upgrade the Eurasian and Indo-Pacific wings of a recently enlarged BRICS membership.

But to do that, they have to start by broadening the scope of their own relations.

India and China have a lot of difficult work to do in that area. The two countries have unresolved border issues along a 3,488-kilometer Line of Actual Control (LAC), water-sharing disputes, China’s partnership with Pakistan, alleged rivalry in Southeast Asia, and a hugely imbalanced bilateral trade favoring China.

Border problems are a legacy conundrum from colonial times. They have led to a month-long war in 1962, with occasional skirmishes and precarious peace intervals still managed by Chinese and Indian field commanders.

Beijing and Delhi have apparently agreed to refrain from violence and to search for acceptable border solutions through dialogue and cooperation. The same attitude applies to water disputes as China controls upstream regions of major Indian rivers like the Brahmaputra.

Love Thy Neighbor

China’s strategic partnership with Pakistan is a major concern for India in view of long-lasting Indo-Pakistani hostilities. China, however, considers Pakistan as a vitally important corridor to Middle East energy supplies.

It remains to be seen whether the recent membership of India and Pakistan in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) – a Eurasian political, economic and security organization -- can facilitate less hostile and more cooperative relations between Delhi and Islamabad.

Much more work also has to be done to produce a reasonably balanced Sino-Indian trade.

In the first ten months of this year the total bilateral trade increased 11% from the year earlier to $127.6 billion. China’s surplus of $96.4 billion was a result of India’s $112.0 billion imports and $15.6 billion exports to its northern neighbor. By the end of this year, India’s total trade deficit with China will substantially exceed its last year’s trade gap of $99 billion.

The two countries must find a way of significantly changing their current trade dynamics. China’s soaring exports to India at an annual rate of 12.3% and India’s paltry 2.4% sales growth to China are very far from Beijing’s mantra of “win-win cooperation.”

On current evidence, it seems a safe bet to suppose that a more balanced trade could go a long way toward building the mutual trust necessary to approach serious political, economic and security problems across the Himalayas.

Russia is India’s trusted friend

This slowly thawing Sino-Indian relationship is a striking difference with a strong and long-standing “privileged strategic partnership” between Russia and India -- based on defense, peaceful nuclear energy programs and space technologies.

Russia and India are expected to update their close and time-tested relations during the visit of President Vladimir Putin to India on December 4-5, 2025.

Indeed, next Thursday and Friday, the two countries will review their cooperation in defense, energy supplies (nuclear, oil, gas and coal), space technology, trade and immigration.

From information in public domain, it appears that India wishes to focus on Russia’s sophisticated air defense systems S-400, and a powerful new S-500 platform. According to Indian sources, the S-400 successfully shielded the country during last May’s drone attacks by Pakistan.

Eager to meet its “Make in India” self-reliance goals, Delhi is interested in joint production of missiles, submarines and aviation. And to secure its energy supplies at stable prices, India will be looking for long-term contracts.

The bilateral trade in the first eight months of this year is down 8.3% from the year earlier to a total of $43.5 billion. The trade balance heavily favors Russia with $40.6 billion exports to India and $2.9 billion of Russian imports from India.

India’s expected free-trade agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union (Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia) and transactions in national currencies will probably lead to some rebalancing of Delhi’s business with Moscow.

The key issue here is how much India will be willing to strengthen its China and Russia ties in an increasingly polarized world along the security faultlines.

India’s relations with China deserve particular attention. Long-standing tensions, historical rivalry and India’s apparent suspicions about China’s unremitting advocacy of dialogue and "win-win cooperation" are formidable obstacles to warmer and confident Sino-Indian relations.

The delicate balancing act in India’s relations with the U.S. will also play a significant part in Delhi’s cooperation with Beijing.

But there is no doubt that India’s “privileged strategic partnership” with Russia will become broader and stronger. Russia will remain India’s trusted and reliable friend providing defense and space technology, consumer products and jobs for a highly qualified Indian labor force.