(This article forms a part of the View From India newsletter curated by The Hindu’s foreign affairs experts. To get the newsletter in your inbox every Monday, subscribe here.)
Before the G20 summit opened in Delhi over the weekend, there were several concerns about the outcome of the event. China had confirmed last week that its President Xi Jinping would not be attending the summit. President Vladimir Putin of Russia was also staying away from the summit. While Mr. Putin’s absence was expected because of Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine, Mr. Xi’s decision was seen by several experts as “deliberate signals” to India and the West. There were also doubts on whether a joint declaration would be released after the meet as there were differences between the West, Russia-China and middle countries, including India on geopolitical issues, particularly on the Ukraine war. But despite these challenges, India successfully hosted the summit with the presence of key international leaders, from U.S. President Joe Biden to Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who will host next year’s summit. After painstaking negotiations, the leaders of the world’s advanced and developing economies also reached a consensus on a joint declaration, which can be seen as a diplomatic victory for India.
In recent years, India has been very vocal on championing the interests of the Global South. It has repeatedly emphasised multipolarity and demanded rewriting the global economic and political institutions reflecting the new realities. The focus given in the declaration on issues related to the Global South as well as the decision to admit the African Union as the 21st member of the grouping point to the changes under way in its thinking. The declaration included references to the issue of global debt and on reforming institutions such as the World Bank to address the challenges of poorer countries. It also called for financing vulnerable countries to tackle climate change and its economic effects.
The most contentious issue, however, was the Ukraine war. In the Bali declaration last year, G20 countries had stated that the Ukraine war was hurting the global economy and called for an end to the fighting. The Bali declaration had also said most members condemned the war and referred to a UN resolution which cited Russian aggression and called for a withdrawal from Ukraine. Compared to Bali, the Delhi declaration has softened its language on Russia and the war. There is no reference to the UN resolution and it also doesn’t say that most members condemned the war. But it read, without a direct reference to Russia, “In line with the UN Charter, all states must refrain from the threat or use of force to seek territorial acquisition against the territorial integrity and sovereignty or political independence of any state.” Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov praised the New Delhi declaration as “a milestone” for the G20 process. The text doesn’t mention Russia at all,” Mr. Lavrov, who attended the summit, said in Delhi, adding that the “Ukrainian crisis is mentioned but only in the context of the need to settle all conflicts in the world in accordance with the UN Charter”.
Another important takeaway is the focus of the summit on infrastructure projects. The U.S. is backing building a transit corridor with shipping lanes and rail networks connecting India’s west coast to Europe via the Gulf and potentially Israel. The announcement lacked details such as time frame for the project and needed investments. It is also fraught with political problems as the U.S. push to bring normalisation of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel hasn’t reached any conclusive point. But still, “it is a real big deal”, as President Biden announced. This is another push by the U.S. to cement its ties with the Global South and retain its edge in West Asia at a time when China is steadily expanding its hold through international investments and diplomacy. And India, with its strong and historical ties with West Asia, is set to emerge as a central player in this new infrastructure initiative.
Lastly, the consensus reached on key geopolitical issues, the focus on the Global South’s problems and the push for infrastructure development and connectivity all point to India’s successful completion of its presidency of the G20. Already the world’s fifth largest economy which has close ties with the West, emerging powers as well as Russia, India is in a unique position to play a bigger role globally. But it is also facing massive challenges, particularly in managing its relations with China, which was evident in Mr. Xi’s absence in Delhi. The G20 summit was a reminder of both India’s potential and challenges in the emerging global order.
The Top Five
- Explained | Is the G-20 a success for global cooperation?: What are the issues, apart from the Ukraine war, on which there is consensus in the New Delhi declaration? Why is the summit important to India and the Global South? Suhasini Haidar writes in The Hindu FAQ.
- ASEAN | Southeast Asia’s source of stability: The 55-year-old grouping that has managed to strive on the principles of centrality, non-interference and economic progress now faces the pressures and lures of geopolitics as both China and the U.S. are trying to exert their influence in the region, writes Diksha Munjal in The Hindu Profiles.
- Sergei Surovikin | Fall of ‘Gen. Armageddon’: The former commander of Russian troops in Ukraine, who had close ties with Wagner, went missing for over two months after the private military’s mutiny, writes Stanly Johny in The Hindu Profiles.
- Finding Seoul in the Indo-Pacific: The outcome of the South Korea-Japan-U.S. trilateral meeting gives New Delhi and Seoul a unique opportunity to enhance their strategic partnership, writes Happymon Jacob.
- India, Bharat and a host of implications: The tradition of using India in English and Bharat in Hindi is wise and constitutionally correct, writes Vivek Katju.
