Engineering a solution is one thing, using it to bolster your geo political image is another.
Agreed.
The solution which I suggested ought to be a secret pact. I just gave the raw framework. I'm sure our diplomacy guys will be able to sugar coat it and make it look noble.
India does this very well.
In fact, the truest evaluation Indian strategic culture came from a spontaneous response to an impromptu question asked to CIA chief during a press conference. In his moment of spontaneity, he gave away what the US REALLY thinks of India. The questioner basically asked "why does the US always resort to military campaigns to resolve issues, why can't they be non-violent and accommodating like India". The CIA guy snapped and said "...well...India does a lot and get away with it".
The more I read, the more I agree what he was saying. Just as an example, we have given dual use nuclear tech to Argentina and Vietnam which can be easily made into a nuke, but still no one accuses us of nuclear proliferation. We have propped up militia groups (Northern Alliance), but no one accuses us of being terrorist supporters. We meddled in a lot of countries, but no one accuses of toppling governments, unlike the US. In fact, we have been as cunning in our conduct as the US is, but we are better at sugar coating it. The rednecks are just loud mouths who get all the blame. We do every single thing the US has done, but we stay under the radar. The Maurya empire gobbled up the entire of Afghanistan and half of Iran, and the Chola empire gobbled up the whole of South East Asia, including Indonesia, still Indians keep saying "India has never invaded anyone". That is our deep cunning. We play meek and get massive dividends from it. In Hindi it's called "yeda ban ke peda khana"
We do a lot of cunning stuff but keep everyone, including our own people, under the impression that we are meek, benign people. The reason I do not like the black and white branding of entire countries as allies vs enemies is because it does not account for the grey areas where the magic happens. Our policies are issue-based, not country-based. We agree with China when they speak against western imperialism, but we also agree with the west when they speak of Chinese hegemony.
During the Russia-Ukraine conflict, people said "obviously China supported Russia because they are allies", but that is not the case. China supported Russia because a Russia-Ukraine conflict would make Russia lose its military hardware sales in Ukraine, and hurt Russian economy, which will make Russia dependent on China. It would also ruin the emerging US-Russia consensus which saw China as a threat to both the US and Russia. So the Chinese told Russia, you pick a fight with Ukraine, we will not oppose you. We will meekly play the role of your junior partner. They got very good dividends for playing the role of a weak junior partner.
See this :