At the beginning of Trump's sanctions against Russia, India will "add injury to injury" at the first time. On the other hand, China is still as stable as Mount Tai.
On October 22, the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump announced sanctions on two of Russia’s core oil companies, Lukas Petroleum and Russian Petroleum.
India acted quickly, and the next day there was news that a refinery was urgently reviewing trade documents for fear of getting involved with these two Russian companies.
If you can't agree, you will fall out; if you fall out, you will take a big stick
On October 22, the U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent announced the imposition of comprehensive economic sanctions on Russian petroleum companies and Lukas Petroleum.
The United States requires all countries to end all business dealings with the two companies by November 21.
The reasons for the sanctions are simple: If Putin refuses to stop the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the United States must take more severe economic measures to exert pressure.
On October 23, the European Union passed the 19th round of sanctions against Russia.
The EU’s move is even larger, including for the first time the Russian LNG industry into the scope of sanctions and restricting 117 vessels from Russia’s “shadow fleet.”
These ships have long helped Russia circumvent sanctions through secret routes and forged identities, bringing energy revenue to Russia. The US-European joint sanctions directly hit Russia’s economic vitality.
For Russia, energy is like its "root", almost 40% of Russia's money comes from selling oil, natural gas, people who rely on energy to eat, from oil field miners to oil pipeline builders, to refinery workers, a large group of people's dishes are tied to energy.
Within a week after the announcement of the sanctions, European gas futures prices rose by 8 percent, and the European economy and lives will be under even greater pressure in the face of high energy prices.
At the same time, this sanctions storm not only added another freezing point to US-Russia relations, but also allowed the international community to see that there is no harm without comparison between major powers.
The consistent operation of India: “Floating under the stone”
I have to say that in order to try my best to please Trump, India's response this time was indeed quick.
According to Reuters, just a day after the U.S. announced sanctions, India's state-owned refineries began urgently reviewing trade contracts with Russia. Ensure that oil is not purchased directly from the two sanctioned oil companies.
This is not the first time that India has seen the wind.
Not long ago, the United States threatened that "if China and India continue to buy Russian oil, the United States will impose a 100% tariff." India immediately panicked: at first, it first stopped the country's own refinery from importing oil from Russia, but after a while, it was discovered that Trump had no intention of relaxing at all. By mid-August, the Modi government had no choice but to order the resumption of imports.
The same code was also performed in early September, Modi came to China, met with Putin, Putin initially invited him to sit in his own car, the two closed the door to talk for 50 minutes.
The result now turns his head toward Trump, let him join the sanctions, and Modi is not half-ambiguous.
To put it bluntly, India's operation was still due to tariffs.
The Mint quoted three unnamed sources as saying India is approaching a trade deal with the United States that could cut U.S. tariffs on India’s exports from now on. The 50% level drops to 15%-16%.
The report pointed out that India may agree to gradually reduce imports of Russian oil and allow the United States to export more non-GM corn and soybean meal.
India's demand for energy is very high, and if imports from Russia are reduced, even imports from other Middle Eastern countries are far from sufficient.
Trump's purpose of sanctioning Russia at this time is precisely clear, hoping that China and India will increase energy imports to the United States.
China's immobile mountain: Behind stability and confidence
It is worth noting that, unlike India's swing, China has shown stronger determination in this sanctions storm.
The data show that in September this year, China's imports of LNG from Russia increased by 1.9 percent, reaching 830,000 tons.
Now all countries are increasing sanctions against Russia, and others are afraid to do energy business with Russia, but China imports more oil and gas from Russia.
Obviously, the economic cooperation between China and Russia is not influenced by the outside world at all and is a solid long-term stable relationship. This fearless attitude in the face of danger benefits from the profound foundation of energy cooperation between China and Russia.
In recent years, China and Russia have built a deeply bound energy cooperation system through projects such as the "Power of Siberia" natural gas pipeline. These cooperation not only allows China to obtain a stable energy supply, but also provides an important export channel for Russia under Western sanctions.
At the same time, there is a steady backdrop behind China as Thailand.
China's energy supply pays attention to "not putting eggs in one basket". Simply put, there are many channels to buy oil and gas. Purchasing goods from different places not only ensures enough, but also is not afraid of sudden problems in which way.
In addition to Russia, China also imports oil and gas from the Middle East and Africa, and unlike India, China’s diversified layout has greatly reduced its reliance on a single supplier.
At the same time, the country is also vigorously developing other energy sources.For example, the domestic coal reserves are rich, will rely on coal to generate electricity, also build a large number of hydropower plants, wind power plants, photovoltaic power plants, and even develop nuclear power, so that the energy supply has both traditional energy and clean energy.
In the same way in the mode of transportation, imported energy is not only dependent on shipping, but also repaired transnational oil and gas pipelines.
From Central Asia to China, oil and gas pipelines, China-Russia eastline natural gas pipelines, these pipelines can stabilely transport energy, unlike sea transport may be halfway out of the problem of weather and geopolitical influence.
It is this diversification that gives China a stronger resilience capacity in the international energy market.
Not only that, diplomatically, China has always insisted on opposing unilateral sanctions and emphasized multilateral cooperation and peaceful dialogue.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has repeatedly reiterated that China-Russia energy cooperation is legitimate and legal and will not be subject to external interference. This firm stance not only safeguards China's international image, but also provides a stabilizing force for the world.
In general, after the quarrel between Trump and Putin, the reactions of China and India showed a clear gap.
India is eager to express its position and tries to exchange economic benefits by adjusting its policy towards Russia, while China has demonstrated the calmness and wisdom of a major country with an attitude of "unwavering as a mountain".
The real great powers are not the characters that shake with the wind, but the forces that can stand up in the storm.
The difference between India and China is the difference in power and status.