Monitoring Desk
BENGALURU: G20 finance ministers again failed to agree on a joint statement at talks in India on the global economy after China sought to remove references to the Ukraine war.
Instead, the current G20 president issued a “chair’s summary” which said “most members strongly denounced the Ukraine war” and that there were “different analyses of the situation and sanctions” at the meeting in Bengaluru.
A footnote said two paragraphs in summary about the Ukraine war, which it said were adapted from the G20 Bali Leaders summit’s Declaration in November, “were agreed to by all member nations except China and Russia.”
Earlier, Spain’s representative Nadia Calvino had said that because of “less constructive” approaches by some countries at the talks among the world’s major 20 economies, agreeing on a joint statement was “difficult.”
China wanted to modify the language of the statement from November, with one saying that China wanted to remove the word “war.”
Prevision summits of G20 also failed to produce joint statement
Previous summits of G20 central bank chiefs and finance ministers have also failed to produce a joint statement since Russia, a member of the grouping, invaded Ukraine last February.
China has sought to keep itself as neutral in the conflict while keeping close relations with strategic ally Russia.
Chinese top diplomat Wang Yi was in Moscow on Wednesday to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and President Vladimir Putin, who is due at a G20 foreign ministers’ summit in New Delhi next week.
Chinese state news agency Xinhua quoted Wang Yi as saying China was willing to “strengthen strategic coordination” and “deepen political trust” with Russia.
On Friday, the first anniversary of the Russian invasion, China published a 12-point proposal calling for a “political solution” to the crisis that was met with skepticism from Ukraine’s allies.
G20 host country India has also refused to condemn Russia, New Delhi’s biggest arms supplier, which has become a significant source of oil for India since the Russian invasion.
Western countries, including Germany, the United States, and France, had insisted the language in a joint communique could not be weaker than the statement issued by G20 leaders in Indonesia in November.
