Tokyo, 02 March, /AJMEDIA/
Foreign ministers from the Group of 20 major economies started a two-day meeting in India on Wednesday, amid a sharp divide between Western countries and the China-Russia camp over the war in Ukraine and other issues.
The gathering in New Delhi comes as the United States, European nations and Japan have been bolstering economic sanctions on Russia over its invasion of its neighbor. China and India have not joined the measures.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov are likely to exchange barbs. Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, who took up his post in December, is set to make his debut at a major international forum on the second day of the G-20 meeting.
Yoshimasa Hayashi, foreign minister of Japan, which holds the presidency of the Group of Seven this year, skipped the G-20 gathering in order to attend an ongoing Diet session, with senior vice minister Kenji Yamada representing the country in his stead.
Hayashi’s absence has been called into question since collaboration between Japan and India, this year’s G-20 chair, is seen as needed as Tokyo aims to call for a united front against Russia ahead of the in-person G-7 summit in Hiroshima in May.
The foreign ministers will discuss food and energy security as the war in Ukraine, which marked its first anniversary last week, has brought into focus the fragility of global supply chains.
Tensions also remain high between Washington and Beijing over Taiwan, a self-ruled democratic island which China sees as a breakaway province to be reunified eventually with the mainland, as well as over the U.S. downing of a suspected Chinese spy balloon that flew over the continental United States last month.
The confrontation between the two nations has been fueled by U.S. allegations that China is considering providing Russia with weapons and ammunition for the Ukraine war — a claim strongly denied by Beijing.
The G-20 is also expected to discuss how to strengthen multilateralism, according to the Indian government. The Russian invasion has laid bare the limitations of the United Nations in dealing with international disputes.
The G-20 groups members of the G-7 — Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States, plus the European Union — along with Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea and Turkey.
The foreign ministers of nine other countries such as Bangladesh, Egypt and Nigeria have been invited to participate in the G-20 meeting as guests, the Indian government said.