A House Divided Against Odd! G20 Summit

By Muhammad Asfand Yar Khan

India celebrates its diplomatic success as on Friday, it hosted the G20 summit. New Delhi sees this as India achieving a great milestone on the diplomatic front as it appears to unite major powers of the globe. However, the traditional divide among stakeholders remains there as the summit fails to keep all stakeholders on one page regarding the issues relating to geo-economics and geo-strategics. A major setback faced by the summit was the absence of Chinese Premier Xi Jinping. As expected he didn’t join the course of the summit and rather sent his second in command to fill his shoe at the forum. This was eminent because China feels mistrust in the forum and considers it as a political bloc against its rise. Furthermore, the Chinese premier welcomed Venezuela and Zambian state representatives simultaneously. This diplomatic move is taken as a Chinese balancing tool to further its narrative of global peace player not only among the ranks of big powers but also among the league of underdeveloped and developing nations.

On the other hand, Putin also followed the same as Xi and didn’t join the summit as it undermined his position in Ukraine. UK’s Prime minister highlighted his Russian counterpart’s absence and mentioned his absence with a notion that Putin is hesitant to meet the eyes of the world due to his coercive actions and policies in Ukraine. Not only did this but the summit also declared Ukraine war as a major hurdle that is contributing to the recessing world economy. Talks on climate change also faced a divide of opinion among the participatory states as no one is ready to lead the issue because it is not serving the economic interests of any. The US President also focused on the need to mend the geo-economics of the world and expected a collaboration with its economic rival China which is not following the global economic protocol set forth by the free market economies. It was alarmingly said that China is pushing a trade war with the US as it seemingly plans to ban the iPhone in its market. Well this economic tussle between the US and China is not new to the stage and it has been widely discussed since the Trump era followed the policy of confrontation with Beijing but later on the state changed its course, With Joe Biden in the White House out rightly negated the confrontational policies to the trade and reformed it with the policy of containment with China.

This recent G20 sit-in predominantly carried an economic agenda. Even though it condemns Ukraine’s invasion and the struggling global climate security, behind the scenes it was the economic interest that rides on. The show had incentives for all those who participated and for those who didn’t. It was an imagine-building show for India that gained significance on the diplomatic front, especially at the global level creating its soft image. No doubt it was an opportunity for India to battle its extremism-prone image which the RSS paints at the face of it. For the West, it was an opportunity to spark against Chinese economic onslaught and Russian strategic onslaught against the world order. The point to be noted is, that these agendas were discussed not in Europe and not in the Middle East but in South Asia, in the neighbor’s house which already shares a huge confrontation when it comes to border issues and geopolitics.

The summit for sure will not bring about any substantial results for the global issues but it will surely yield soft benefits for the participants. Its mandate still looms in the dark for it leaves behind a house that is divided against itself on issues like climate change and global governance. This can be analyzed that still the realist critique on the liberal institutionalism breathes and the world still struggles to address the actual world problems. Even though the host of the G20 summit faces a huge challenge in terms of poverty, food security, gender related issues, and above all atrocities in Kashmir it preferred to carry on building its baseless image by conducting such politically bloc-oriented summits. Even though Ukrainian blood was condemned by all the violations of human rights and international law in Kashmir was nowhere to be seen on the agenda. Given all this, the summit as a whole reinforced its insignificant role in the world’s political dynamics for the prospects. Not only has this but it also killed the hopes of global institutional ideologues who believe institutions as the peace bearer of the world.

The writer is pursuing his MPhil in Strategic Studies from National Defence University, Islamabad.