02/09/2025

TUESDAY | SEP 2, 2025

READ OUR

HERE

8

Malaysian Paper

/thesun

Xi, Putin share vision for new global order

Ambani family postpones New York cultural event MUMBAI: Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s family has postponed a cultural showcase in New York, citing “unforeseen circumstances”, a decision made after Washington sharply raised tariffs on imported Indian goods over its purchases of Russian oil. The Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre (NMACC) did not elaborate on reasons for the postponement of the “India Weekend”, which had been set to open on Sept 12 at the Lincoln Centre, but the move came amid worsening ties. US officials have criticised India’s purchases of discounted Russian crude, saying they blunt efforts to end the war in Ukraine, though they have not named Ambani. Reliance Industries, controlled by Mukesh Ambani, operates the world’s largest refining complex in Gujarat and is India’s biggest buyer of Russian oil. Nita Ambani, who is Mukesh Ambani’s wife and who chairs the cultural centre, was due to host the cultural event featuring Michelin-star chef Vikas Khanna and designer Manish Malhotra and a show called The Great Indian Musical: Civilization to Nation . India has defended its purchases from Russia, which accounted for 35% of its supply in the first half of 2025, on economic grounds, and has criticised the US and the European Union for singling out New Delhi over its Russian oil purchases. Reliance Industries has a crude supply arrangement for about 500,000 barrels per day with Russia’s Rosneft, the largest such deal between India and Russia. Reliance also has significant exposure to the US market. In his annual address on Friday, Ambani urged Indian businesses to “work together with unity as a grand coalition” to shield the economy from external shocks. “This is not a cancellation, only a pause, and we are committed to bringing NMACC to New York at a later date,” the centre said, adding ticket buyers will receive refunds. – Reuters SYDNEY: A man was arrested yesterday after ramming his car into the gates of the Russian consulate in Sydney. Police said officers responded to reports of an unauthorised vehicle parked in the driveway of an address on Fullerton Street that corresponded with the location of the Russian consulate. Officers attempted to speak to the driver before he drove his vehicle into the gates. A neighbour who witnessed the incident said he saw the car force its way through the gates after the driver was instructed to step out. “The policemen continued to ask him to get out of the car, he didn’t get out of the car. They drew their firearms,” he said. Television footage showed a white SUV with a smashed window abandoned next to a flagpole on the grounds of the consulate. – Reuters CAMILLA ONCE FOUGHT OFF ATTACKER WITH HER SHOE LONDON: Britain’s Queen Camilla fought off a would-be attacker on a train when she was a teenager by hitting him with her shoe, according to a new book. Camilla, 78, was travelling on a train to Paddington in London when she was about 16 or 17 when a man started to assault her, said the account in the book Power and the Palace which is being serialised in the Times . She responded by taking off her shoe and hitting him in the genitals with her heel. When she arrived at Paddington she pointed the attacker out to an official and he was arrested, the book said. The author, former Times correspondent Valentine Low, said Camilla had recounted the story during a meeting with former prime minister Boris Johnson in 2008 when he was the mayor of London. – Reuters MAN HELD OVER RUSSIAN CONSULATE CAR CRASH

o Leaders advocate just, equitable governance

and observer countries in recent years. Xi called on organisation partners to “oppose Cold War mentality and bloc confrontation” and to support multilateral trade systems. That was an apparent dig at President Donald Trump’s tariff war which has disproportionately affected developing economies such as India, whose exports were hit with a 50% levy last week. China will provide 2 billion yuan (RM1.2 billion) of free aid to member states this year and a further 10 billion yuan of loans to an SCO banking consortium, he added. Speaking on the sidelines of the meeting on Sunday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said China played a “fundamental” role in upholding global multilateralism. Beijing has also used the summit as an opportunity to mend ties with New Delhi. Modi, who is in China on his first visit in seven years, and Xi both agreed on Sunday their countries are development partners, not rivals, and discussed ways to improve trade ties amid the global tariff uncertainty. – Reuters

and investment facilitation,” said Xi, urging the bloc to boost cooperation in fields including energy, infrastructure, science and technology, and artificial intelligence. Putin said the grouping has revived “genuine multilateralism” with national currencies increasingly used in mutual settlements. “This, in turn, lays the political and socio economic groundwork for the formation of a new system of stability and security in Eurasia,” he said. “This security system, unlike Euro-centric and Euro-Atlantic models, would genuinely consider the interests of a broad range of countries, be truly balanced, and would not allow one country to ensure its own security at the expense of others.” Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other leaders from Central Asia, the Middle East, South Asia and Southeast Asia attended the opening ceremony in a major show of Global South solidarity. The security-focused bloc, which began as a group of six Eurasian nations, has expanded to 10 permanent members and 16 dialogue

TIANJIN: President Xi Jinping urged leaders at a regional summit to leverage their “mega scale market” yesterday, while Russian President Vladimir Putin showed support for Xi’s ambition for a new global security and economic order that poses a challenge to the United States. The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) has set a model for a new type of international relations, Xi said in opening remarks addressing more than 20 world leaders at a two-day summit held in northern China’s port city Tianjin. “We should advocate equal and orderly multipolarisation of the world, inclusive economic globalisation and promote the construction of a more just and equitable global governance system,” he said. “We must take advantage of the mega scale market ... to improve the level of trade

BR I E F S

Putin, Modi and Xi meet on the sidelines of the summit. – AFPPIC

‘Russia, India stand together even in difficult times’ NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi told President Vladimir Putin yesterday that India and Russia stood shoulder to shoulder even in difficult times after the Kremlin chief cast Modi as his“dear friend”and gave him a lift in his armoured limousine. “Russia and India have maintained special relations for decades, friendly and trusting. This is the foundation for the development of our relations in the future,” Putin said. Modi said he welcomed recent efforts aimed at ending the war in Ukraine.

Xi Jinping. All three smiled as they spoke. Later, Modi posted a picture on X of him and Putin inside the armoured Russian Aurus limousine used by the Kremlin chief. Modi told Putin at the bilateral meeting that India and Russia had stuck together even in hard times. “Even in the most difficult situations, India and Russia have always walked shoulder to shoulder,” Modi said. “Our close cooperation is important not only for the people of both countries but also for global peace, stability and prosperity.” At the bilateral meeting, Putin addressed Modi in Russian as “Dear Mr Prime Minister, dear friend.”

“We hope that all parties will move forward constructively. A way has to be found to end the conflict as soon as possible and establish permanent peace,” Modi said. Putin often travels with the Aurus on foreign trips and has occasionally offered rides to fellow leaders – or even gifted the vehicle, as he did to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last year. – Reuters

China and India are the biggest buyers of crude from Russia, the world’s second largest exporter. Trump has imposed additional tariffs on India over the purchases but there is no sign that India or China are going to stop the purchases. On the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meeting, Modi held Putin’s hand as they walked towards President