Discord over Russia’s war on Ukraine and festering tensions between the U.S. and China are proving to be ominous backdrops for world leaders gathering in Indonesia for a summit of the Group of 20 biggest economies starting Tuesday, according to AP News.
With recession looming as central banks fight decades-high inflation partly brought on by the war, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that ending the conflict would be the “single best thing that we can do for the global economy.”
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, writing in the newspaper The Telegraph, called Russia a “rogue state” and slammed its president, Vladimir Putin, for staying away.
“Leaders take responsibility. They show up. Yet, at the G20 summit in Indonesia this week, one seat will remain vacant,” wrote Sunak, who took office last month. “The man who is responsible for so much bloodshed in Ukraine and economic strife around the world will not be there to face his peers. He won’t even attempt to explain his actions.”
The G20 meetings provide another opportunity for leaders to show unity in their support for Ukraine, discussions that “are inseparable from those on how we can strengthen our collective security,” Sunak said.
“Russia’s brutal war in Ukraine is creating food and energy crises. It’s disrupting supply chains and raising the cost of living. Families are worried that they’re not going to be able to put food on the table or won’t be able to heat their homes during winter,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told a business conference on the sidelines of the G-20 meetings.
U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping met Monday ahead of the start of formal G20 summit meetings that begin Tuesday, seeking to find common ground despite antagonisms over trade, technology and other issues.
In opening the meeting, Biden said the two countries shared a responsibility to “prevent competition from becoming anything ever near conflict, and to find ways to work together on urgent global issues that require our mutual cooperation.”
Xi said he hoped they would “chart the right course for the China-U.S. relationship.”
But even having top leaders of the two sides meet after a long hiatus during the pandemic is progress of a kind that might facilitate more productive talks in the larger G20 meeting, which includes 19 of the largest economies and the European Union. Another 10 countries were invited as guests.
The group consists of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union. Spain holds a permanent guest seat.