The island nation of Indonesia is all set to host the 2022 G20 summit this year. The summit, which will take place in November will have both Russia and China in attendance. Apart from the two countries Ukraine and the US are all set to attend as well.
Indonesia is the host of the international G20 summit for 2022. Under the chairmanship of its president Joko Widodo, the summit will take place in Jakarta with 20 countries in attendance including Russia and China. This will mark the first time since the pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine War that the leaders of the two countries will be meeting physically along with the U.S and Ukraine.
The G20 summit
Claiming that both Russia and China have accepted Indonesia as a “bridge of peace”, President Joko Widodo confirmed their attendance. In an interview with Bloomberg Widodo said, “Xi Jinping will come. President Putin has also told me he will come”. Kremlin also confirmed that both President Putin and Widodo have discussed the former’s visit to Jakarta over the phone. However, it is to be noted that the Kremlin has not confirmed that president Putin will attend the summit.
This G20 summit will have a huge significance with the potential to bring about new developments in the geopolitical sphere. This will be President Xi Jinping’s first international visit since the pandemic broke out in 2020. With his visit to Hong Kong excluded (the trip that mark 25 years since Hong Kong’s return to China).
Moreover, this will also be Putin’s first global summit since he launched his “special military operation” in Ukraine.
Things in the global arena have been quite tense lately. The invasion of Ukraine and China’s escalated military activities off of Taiwan’s coast is proof of that. This situation brought about a barrage of international condemnation of both Russia and China. While China and Russia have always been allies since the Cold War era, China, notwithstanding their relationship, did not explicitly give support to Russia. Having managed to survive sanctions, it did, however, sign a “no limits” partnership with Russia in February. The partnership is a strategic alliance against NATO.
Accordingly, the recent events have made the relationship with America strenuous. President Joko Widodo aims to “bridge” that gap between the nations. “The rivalry of the big countries is indeed worrying”, said Widodo to Bloomberg. He added, “What we want for this region is to be stable, peaceful so that we can build economic growth”.
In this situation, Widodo also claims that he was pressurized into excluding Russia from the summit. Way back in April this year, Indonesia had to face intense pressure from the western countries to exclude Russia from the summit.
The U.S in the picture
The events of the summit will be even more significant with the U.S in the picture. Both Russia and China’s relationship with the U.S has deteriorated over the past 3 years.
When Russia invaded Ukraine in February this year, America was one of the first countries to condemn it. The condemnation followed a plethora of sanctions. Other countries placed sanctions on Russia as well, all at the helm of the U.S. In addition to that NATO also increased its activities. Naturally, this summit will have a huge role in deciding how things play out from here on.
China too will play a major role in this situation since Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan worsened the relationship between itself and the U.S. Following, her visit China increased its military activities near Taiwan’s coastline. America had a major role to play in this escalation. This will also be the first time, since Biden took over Oval Office, that he will be meeting Jinping.
Read more: Taiwan visit irks China, Pelosi to face sanctions
