By G Krishna Mohan Rao*
New Delhi: As the G-20 Summit inches closer, all eyes are on the world leaders who will be attending it and who opted out of the Summit given the geopolitical reasons, and those who have still not confirmed it.
While the President of Nigeria Bola Ahmed Tinubu arrived on September 5, most world leaders would be arriving in New Delhi from September 8, 2023, early hours for the two-day Summit to be held on September 9 and 10, 2023.
The White House announced that United States President Joe Biden would travel to India on September 7 to attend the G-20 Summit. He will also hold bilateral meetings with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, September on September 8, ahead of the two-day summit.
India is hosting the Summit at a very crucial time when the whole world is staring at geopolitical uncertainties and global issues that need special attention ranging from the Ukraine conflict to the issues of Climate Change and the Afghanistan crisis, debt, the north-south divide, sharper east-west polarisation, for that matter.
The Summit will see leaders from the group of 20 major economies of the world gathering under one platform to discuss and find solutions to several key global issues including Digital Transformation, Climate Financing, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and Food Security among others.
So far Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni’s attendance at the summit is uncertain and has no confirmation yet. Another leader who has not given his confirmation is Indonesia President Joko Widodo. President of the European Commission, Ursula Von Der Leyden and President of the European Council, Charles Michel are yet to confirm their attendance at the G-20 summit. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is likely to skip the summit this year.
Moreover, in the absence of President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Qiang will lead China’s delegation at the G-20 summit. This will be the first time that a Chinese President has missed a G-20 leaders’ summit since the first edition was held in 2008. India and China relations are currently at an all-time low since the Galwan Valley clash at the Line of Actual Control in May 2020. Moreover, only this month India also lodged a strong protest over a controversial map released by China that shows Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin as China’s territory.
Responding to the tensions between India and China affecting the summit, Sullivan remarked, “Really, that’s up to China. If China wants to come in and play the role of spoiler, of course, that option is available to them…What I think that the chair, India, will encourage them to do, what we — the United States — and every other member — virtually every other member in the G20 will do is encourage them to come in in a constructive way on climate, on multilateral development bank reform, on debt relief, on technology, and set aside the geopolitical questions and really focus on problem-solving and delivering for the developing countries”.
Besides India, Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines, as well as Japan accuse China of claiming their territory in its new national map. In the latest development, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno criticized China showing what Japan calls the Senkaku Islands and what China calls the Diaoyu Islands belonging to China. Matsuno said that Japan had complained to China through diplomatic channels and demanded the retraction of that map. However, China today responded by claiming that Diaoyu Dao and its affiliated islands have all along been China’s territory. “It is only natural that they are marked as Chinese territory on a map. China does not accept Japan’s protest”, the Chinese foreign ministry stated today. There is a likelihood that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will raise the map issue during his deliberations at the 20th ASEAN-India Summit and the 18th East Asia Summit tomorrow.
Skipping off the G-20 by China’s President is being seen in political quarters as an attempt by China to belittle India on the world stage. Reacting over the skipping of the G-20 by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, India’s External Affairs Minister Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar made it clear that it will not cast a shadow on the Summit.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is also skipping the summit likely because of an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant for him over alleged war crimes in Ukraine, although India is not an ICC party. Putin had in a phone call with Prime Minister Modi said his Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov would be attending the summit meeting.
On this occasion, India strongly feels that the world is in crisis and needs the G-20 to deliver on its self-stated role as the ‘premier’ forum for international economic cooperation. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan is also set to discuss a series of issues including climate change at the Summit. The National Security Advisor of the United States, Jake Sullivan, announced in a White House press briefing that the United States’ commitment to the G20 “hasn’t wavered, and we hope this G20 Summit will show that the world’s major economies can work together even in challenging times”. Asserting President Biden’s commitment to working with emerging market partners to deliver “big things” together, Sullivan said, “That’s what we believe the world will see in New Delhi this weekend”. He made it clear that the American focus was going to be on delivering for developing countries; making progress on key priorities for the American people, from climate to technology; and showing the United States’ commitment to the G20 as a forum that can “actually deliver”. Sullivan continued in the same vein, “And thanks to the leadership of Prime Minister Modi and India’s Presidency, we hope we’ll be able to do all of those things”.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will attend the G-20 Summit, making his first official visit to India after taking charge. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has confirmed his in-person attendance at the Summit and so have Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Argentina’s President Alberto Fernandez, South Korean President Yoon Suk-Yeo, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumo Kishida. Kishida is likely to emphasise his country’s criticism of Russia over the Ukraine war.
Among other G-20 heads, French President Emmanuel Macron will attend the summit and he is also expected to hold bilateral talks with Prime Minister Modi. also be attending the Delhi summit. has confirmed his visit. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has expressed full support for India’s G-20 Presidency and will attend it.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is also likely to attend the G-20 summit. India invited Bangladesh to participate as an observer. The Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, too, is likely to attend the Summit but an official confirmation is still awaited.
*Senior journalist
