As the international situation is undergoing a major shift since the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime, Moscow may feel the necessity to offset the repercussions of its flawed policies on Iraq. Subsequently, there have been renewed calls for a Moscow-Beijing-New Delhi triangle, a potential alliance of three nuclear-armed countries of some 2.5 billion people, that theoretically would be able to balance U. S. power in the coming years.

There have been a number of fresh signs to substantiate axis talk. "Russia will continue interaction with its partners in the Moscow-Beijing-New Delhi triangle," Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov stated at an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting. "This interaction is important for international stability in general," he was quoted by the official Russian Information Agency (RIA).

Also, at the ASEAN meeting in Phnom Penh, Russia, China and India reportedly gave "signals" that they would sign up for the grouping’s Treaty of Amity and Co-operation (TAC), a sort of non-aggression pact among the 10 ASEAN member-states.

In the meantime, Moscow has praised Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee’s trip to China as significant for global stability. Russian Foreign Minister Ivanov noted that Moscow hailed "more active dialogue" between Beijing and New Delhi.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry denied that there was any move to form a China-India-Russia strategic alliance, only conceding that the three countries have been sharing similar views on some international issues.

For instance, there is a growing arms-sale relationship between Russia and the two Asian countries. The trade provides Moscow with billions of much-needed dollars and important arms-export markets, while Beijing and New Delhi get sophisticated armaments ranging from combat aircraft to submarines. Russia and India recently held their first joint naval exercise in the Indian Ocean, when a large task force of Russian surface ships and nuclear attack submarines simulated attacks on aircraft-carrier groups. The naval exercise was co-ordinated with a mission by long-range bombers.

A "strategic triangle" among Russia, India and China was first suggested by then Russian Premier Yevgeny Primakov four years ago. Yet the idea failed to serve its immediate purpose of preventing the U. S.-led North Atlantic Treaty Organisation air strikes against former Yugoslavia, a concept dismissed by Beijing while New Delhi remained non-committal. Last November, New Delhi denied that India, Russia and China were forming a separate axis, adding that the talks among the three countries in New York the previous September had been informal.

However, in December, Russian President Vladimir Putin travelled to China and India, and high-level rhetoric about the need for greater co-operation also included thinly-veiled anti-Western pronouncements and calls for a "multipolar world", Moscow’s mantra for counterbalancing America’s global dominance.

So far, the "strategic triangle" concept is yet to be formally coined. However, Russia, China and India are understood to have a number of converging interests that could add substance to axis talk. All three were disturbed by the Iraq war and protested against what they viewed as a rejection of the rules of the international game.

On the other hand, the idea that now the Eastern axis may be the only answer to U. S. arrogance has been dismissed as a mere by-product of the Cold War-era mindset.

There have been warnings that a well-armed and strong China may one day not just make Russia its junior partner, but even pose a threat to Russia’s resource-rich Far East. Incidentally, Moscow seems to be taking some measures of precaution.

Meanwhile, the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO) can provide a convenient forum for the trilateral axis. Now the SCO includes China, Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, and India has been touted as a potential candidate. India’s joining could raise the SCO’s significance. There is a growing economic dimension in the partnership between Russia and China. During Hu’s visit, a 25-year oil-supply deal was signed between Russia’s Yukos and the China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC). That accord calls for a 2,400-kilometre pipeline from eastern Siberia to the northern Chinese city of Daqing that will carry 20 million tonnes of crude per year for the first five years once construction is completed.

Late last month, China and Russia struck an unprecedented deal jointly to survey oil and natural-gas resources in their border areas.

In May, Hu not only put his signature on a strategic energy pact with Putin, but also attended the SCO summit. The SCO presidents gathered in the Kremlin and agreed to have a secretariat in Beijing and a Regional Anti-Terrorist Force in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek from 2004.

There is, thus, a motivation in all three capitals to co-operate on strategic, security and economic issues. But aside from calls for a "multipolar world", the idea of an axis seemingly is yet to evolve into a clear-cut strategy.