Xi Jinping’s absence from the G20 conclave in Delhi, is primarily directed against the United States and the West
In diplomacy, doors for dialogue are never shut but China and India were entailed in a petty issue of scoring over each other which is evident from the recent controversy started by Dragon that Xi and Modi met on the sideline of the BRIC summit in Johannesburg at the request of India which gave birth to the pessimism of improvement in strained ties between two countries. The reports in foreign media as well as Indian press focused on the crux of the brief interaction that took place between Xi and Modi thereby slightly brightening the chances of intensifying efforts to de escalate tensions at the border which is mandatory to normalize the relations strained since the past more than three years. But it proved short-lived.
In this backdrop and latent attempt by China to take away credit for the success of the G20 summit from India, now it is confirmed that Chinese president, Xi Jinping will not willfully attend the G 2o meeting in Delhi on Sept 9 which is primarily aimed at undermining the success of summit besides hitting and snubbing United states and west though Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin has stood by India because he telephoned prime minister, Narender Modi to explain his decision not to attend G20 meet in person.
President of G20 nations, India will be hosting meetings of heads of member nations on Sept 9 and Sept 10, 2023, in New Delhi hence Xi’s presence would have made a lot of difference but uncertainty prevails. Experts say that a brief conversation between the two leaders had created a good atmosphere which was sullied by China as scoring over each other will not yield positive results. India faces a challenge to ensure the success of the G20 summit which will be attended by Joe Biden, the US president also. India needs to avoid any attempt by China to undermine the importance of the G20 meeting hence a signal has been sent to the world about India’s eagerness to have normal ties with Dragon.
Experts believe that China’s attempt to emerge as a dominating power in the region has been thwarted by India which is also an emerging world economic power. China has tried to entrap poor nations in Asia through Debt policy which is a byproduct of its expansion strategy. However, such a policy is being resented by several nations as they are unable to repay huge loans. Nineteen rounds of talks held between India and China have not yielded tangible results as China has refused to restore pre-2020 status on LOC which reflects its lack of sincerity in resolving the border issue. The Chinese Ministry of External Affairs issued a statement that said “President Xi stressed that improving China-India relations serves the common interests of the two countries and peoples,” But China’s track record shows that it seldom follows such a policy which is evident from its attempt to grab Indian territory and refusal to pull back its forces which were illegally piling up their strength on our side of LOC.
Secondly, China is very upset over the strategic partnership and close ties that have been developed between the United States and India thereby preventing Dragon from advancing towards its ambition of becoming the Superpower to replace the US. China keeps on encouraging Pakistan to create tension with India which suits its’ evil designs. Owing to open support to Russia, China stands to lose in the international arena after the Ukraine war. India has maintained good ties with Putin and taken a neutral stand on Ukraine aggression which helped India to get cheap oil amidst the sanctions imposed by the US and West. India’s role in different groupings including the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD), a grouping of Japan, the US, India and Australia is widely seen by China as America’s initiative to counter the growing influence in the world arena.
Third, Amidst the pushback being faced by China and Russia owing to sanctions imposed by the United States, an aggressive posture was adopted by both nations to ensure the expansion of BRICS but India registered its strength as it had taken the lead in floating an idea of evolving the consensus over the admission of new six members in the block to develop new global developmental order of governance which should not be Unipolar. It was not to the liking of China as Russia took a stand that was not at the variance of India in BRIC. Biden was poised to raise the Ukraine issue and China has stood by Russia. China does not want to tolerate the dominance of Western powers and relations have further strained with India after the redrawing of the map.
(The writer is a political analyst and senior journalist based in Shimla)
