G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting in New Delhi, India, March 1 and 2
Attempts to Impose Anti-Russia and Anti-China Agenda on International Fora Continue
The Group of 20 (G20), the grouping of the world's largest economies, is being chaired by India in 2023.[1] In preparation for the September heads of state summit in New Delhi, India, various working groups have been holding meetings in India since December 2022, while a G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting was convened in New Dehli on March 1 and 2.
The G20 brings together the U.S., Canada and EU, as well as Russia and China. Notably, since the U.S. and NATO instigated their proxy war in Ukraine, the U.S. and its allies have sought to use the G20 as a venue to try to isolate Russia and try to impose support for Ukraine on other countries. This was the case at the recent Foreign Ministers' meeting.
The ministerial meeting was opened with a recorded message from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who called for a "unity of purpose and unity of action" by G20 states to overcome a crisis in post-World War II international architecture. He urged the participants of the summit to overcome their differences toward achieving that goal.
During the meeting, in-depth discussions were carried out on multilateralism, food and energy security, development cooperation, counterterrorism and other agenda items. Concerns were expressed about the current international situation and the need to strengthen multilateralism.
Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar claimed there was "a great deal of agreement on the bulk of issues." However, the most salient feature of the meeting was the failure of the U.S. -- represented by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken -- and its allies to issue any resolutions and condemning Russia for the war in Ukraine, which was a major point of discussion and contention at the meeting, such that a joint communiqué typically issued at the end of the meeting could not be produced, necessitating that the "outcome document" be issued by India as chair instead.
Both Russia and China had strong objections to the two paragraphs of the draft statement borrowed from last year's Bali Summit, which demanded the unconditional withdrawal of all Russian troops from Ukrainian territory.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that the behaviour "of some members of the G20," turned the work on the group's agenda into a circus in their "attempt to blame Moscow for their own mismanagement." News agency reports indicate Lavrov said that "the attacks against Moscow at the G20 look 'particularly wild' coming from nations who 'never complained at [the organization's] meetings over the many hundreds of thousands of victims of Washington's adventures in the Middle East, which were conducted under a pretext of national security' thousands of miles from American soil." Lavrov said: "We need to guard against illegal sanctions, manipulation of markets, arbitrary price caps and other attempts to appropriate other parties' resources." Western policies are "degrading international economic relations, weaponizing them,'" he said adding that Russia was shocked by the "unpunished sabotage" against the Nord Stream pipelines, which happened "in NATO's and the EU's zone of responsibility."
Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang told the meeting that, faced with a volatile international situation and rising global challenges, the G20 must rise to the occasion, enhance cooperation, and contribute its share to global development and prosperity. He called on G20 countries to practice true multilateralism and follow the principles of dialogue on an equal footing and consensus-building through consultation, and that no one should engage in power politics or even bloc confrontation. He pointed out the need to promote the sound development of globalization, reject unilateralism, protectionism and attempts to decouple or sever supply chains, and make global development more inclusive, resilient and beneficial for all.
Canada's Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly attended the meeting, where she also pushed confrontation with Russia and China, in keeping with letting Canada's foreign policy be dictated by U.S. and NATO aims. She said nothing about how the U.S./NATO instigated their proxy war in Ukraine against Russia, while claiming Russia is spreading disinformation, and that "It was important for Canada to be present to counter Russian disinformation." Joly also met for the first time with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang on the sidelines of the ministerial meeting. Joly repeated the grandstanding and undiplomatic tone taken by Prime Minister Trudeau with Chinese President Xi Jinping at last year's G20 Summit in Bali, declaring, "Canada will never tolerate any form of foreign interference in our democracy and internal affairs by China."
In related news, massive demonstrations against the meeting of the G20 Working Group on Education, held in Amritsar from March 15 to 17, were organized by farmers and workers in Punjab. They shouted Down With Imperialism, Down With Land Theft, Down With Stealing Water, Long Live Struggles for Control of Resources. In order to stop people from reaching Amritsar the army was sent out to confine them to the villages. Thousands of people nonetheless reached Amritsar and exposed the hypocrisy of the chief minister. Farmers said that he is wearing his turban in the style and colour of Bhagat Singh but is selling the resources and labour of the people of Punjab. Nothing good for people can come out of meetings of representatives of the financial oligarchies and oligopolies. People shouted slogans for the release of political prisoners, who have been in prison for years even after completing their sentences.
Note
1. As of 2023, there are 20 members in the group: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Republic of Korea, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union. Guest invitees include, amongst others, Spain, the United Nations, the World Bank, the African Union and ASEAN. Within the G20 is the G7: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, as well as the European Union.
The G20 was founded in 1999 in response to several world economic crises. Since 2008, it has convened at least once a year, with summits involving each member's head of government or state, finance minister, or foreign minister, and other high-ranking officials; the EU is represented by the European Commission and the European Central Bank. Other countries, international organizations, and nongovernmental organizations are invited to attend the summits, some on a permanent basis.
Wikipedia describes the G20 as "an intergovernmental forum comprising 19 countries and the European Union (EU). It says the G20 works to address major issues related to the global economy, such as international financial stability, climate change mitigation, and sustainable development. It says the G20 "is composed of most of the world's largest economies, including both industrialized and developing nations; it accounts for around 80 per cent of gross world product (GWP), 75 per cent of international trade, two-thirds of the global population, and 60 per cent of the world's land area."
This article was published in
Volume 53 Number 5 - March 2023
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2023/Articles/MS530512.HTM
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