Modern Diplomacy, a web platform which describes itself as “a leading European opinion-maker with far-reaching influence across the Middle East, Africa, and Asia,” on April 30 ran an article with the provocative headline, “India Joins China in De-Dollarization Drive” (https://moderndiplomacy.eu/2023/04/30/india-joins-china-in-de-dollarization-drive/ ). The report begins with the Indian policy as of March 29 of accepting rupee payment for exports to 18 “countries facing dollar shortages or currency crises,” but also says that India is exploring a Russia-India-China alternative to SWIFT. The article otherwise emphasizes that China and India have in common, not only increasing trade volume between them, but the anticipation of U.S./EU sanctions potentially spreading to them.
In fact, the latest (12th) set of sanctions proposed by the European Union “executive,” according to Reuters May 8, will sanction seven Chinese companies “to punish China over accusations [!] of Beijing’s role in Russia’s war in Ukraine.” The EU executive also proposes to “curb [European] exports to nations seen as involved in bypassing Russia trade restrictions under new sanctions against Moscow"—so India is indirectly targeted as well, while the fantasizing EU directly targets China, Turkey, U.A.E., and the Central Asian Republics.
In addition, according to the Modern Diplomacy report, China and India both have strong interest in expanding trade and cooperation with Iran, which requires de-dollarization because of the extensive and apparently permanent U.S. sanctions vendetta against that important nation.
