No G20 joint statement after China objections on Ukraine war

• Published date: 26 February 2023
• Publication title: The Korea Times

G20 finance ministers failed Saturday to adopt a joint statement on the global economy at talks in India, after China sought to water down references to the Ukraine war.

Russia, for its part, accused the United States, the European Union and the G7 nations of disrupting the ministers' meeting by trying to force through a joint statement on Ukraine.

"We regret that the activities of the G20 continue to be destabilized by the Western collective and used in an anti-Russian... way," Russia's foreign ministry said.

After no agreed-upon final statement was reached, current G20 president India issued a "chair's summary" which said "most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine" and that there were "different assessments of the situation and sanctions" at the two-day meeting in Bengaluru.

A footnote said two paragraphs in the summary about the war, which it said were adapted from the G20 Bali Leaders' Declaration in November, "were agreed to by all member countries except Russia and China".

Spain's representative Nadia Calvino had said earlier that because of "less constructive" approaches by some unspecified countries at the talks among the world's top 20 economies, agreeing on a statement was difficult.

China wanted to change the language of the declaration from November, officials told AFP, with one saying on condition of anonymity that Beijing wished to remove the word "war".

Previous meetings of G20 finance ministers and central bank chiefs have also failed to produce a common communique since Russia, a member of the grouping, invaded its neighbor last February.

Senior Indian official Ajay Seth said the Chinese and Russian representatives did not want to sign up to the wording on Ukraine because "their mandate is to deal with economic and financial issues".

"On the other hand, all the other 18 countries felt that the war has got implications for the global economy" and needed to be mentioned, Seth told a closing news conference.

China has sought to position itself as neutral on the conflict while maintaining close ties with strategic ally Russia.

State news agency Xinhua quoted top diplomat Wang Yi on Wednesday as saying China was willing to "strengthen strategic coordination" with Russia after meeting President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

On Friday, the first anniversary of the invasion, China published a 12-point paper calling for a "political settlement" to the crisis that was met with skepticism from...