Modi seeks to cement India’s global standing with G20 summit
By AFP
Published September 10, 2023
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi (C) has used the G20 presidency to burnish his image at home and abroad -
By AFP
Published September 10, 2023
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi (C) has used the G20 presidency to burnish his image at home and abroad -
NOTE HIS COUNTRY DESIGNATION ISN'T 'INDIA' BUT THE HINDU NATIONALIST NAME 'BHARAT'.
Aishwarya KUMAR
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi used his G20 presidency to burnish his image at home and abroad as a steward of national power and prosperity, asserting India’s place in the world ahead of general elections next year.
For months, the 72-year-old leader has been a ubiquitous presence across Delhi, looking down from countless roadside posters and billboards put up across India’s capital.
Among other slogans, they proclaimed the country the “Voice of the Global South”.
India overtook China as the world’s most populous country earlier this year, after displacing former coloniser Britain as its fifth-biggest economy in 2022.
Now Modi is seeking a place on the global stage to match, using the G20 summit as a catalyst to position India as a representative of many others outside traditional power blocs.
Among the most tangible outcomes of the summit was a permanent seat at the table for the African Union, and on the first day, Modi banged a ceremonial gavel to announce that the leaders had reached consensus to adopt a declaration.
It was somewhat unexpected. The grouping had agreed on most things last year in Bali but not all.
But by herding deeply divided leaders into a common — if largely symbolic — statement on vexed issues such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Modi scored a diplomatic win.
The statement avoided any direct criticism of Russia — a long-time arms and energy supplier to India — or summit absentee President Vladimir Putin, who is accused of war crimes by the International Criminal Court.
And on climate, there was no commitment to phase out fossil fuels, but there was backing for the goal of tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030.
“It is a success for India’s diplomacy,” said Ashok Kantha, former Indian ambassador to China.
“We could persuade our friends in the West, and say they need not insist on an explicit condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” he added.
“It’s a good compromise.”
And Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center, said the outcome had “vindicated” India’s policy of “strategic autonomy”.
“It’s definitely not a reflection of a 100 percent consensus, or maybe not even an 80 or 90 percent consensus,” but it did “suggest a level of convergence on more issues than I had expected.
“That’s a bit of a pleasant surprise.”
– Symbolic scene –
Delhi went on an intense beautification drive before the two-day meeting.
Men were hired to chase away monkeys, some 70,000 flower pots were placed across the city and on summit days, swathes of the metropolis were locked down — with some preparations criticised as thousands of homeless people were moved to shelters.
The summit itself was replete with Hindu symbols, a not-so-subtle message from populist Modi to his base.
His political career and success have been based on support from India’s one-billion-plus Hindus and, critics say, stoking enmity toward the country’s large Muslim minority.
The summit’s logo — a globe with a lotus — echoed the symbol of his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.
At the summit table, Modi sat behind a nameplate that said “Bharat” — an ancient Sanskrit word steeped in Hindu religious symbolism — rather than India.
He will go to the world’s biggest election next year as the clear favourite, with the opposition Congress Party plagued by its reputation for corruption.
A recent poll by Pew showed eight in 10 Indians have a positive view of Modi, and almost as many believe he is leading the country to greater influence on the world stage.
His international reputation is a little less lustrous.
Under Modi’s tenure, India has slumped in Freedom House’s rankings for political rights and civil liberties, with police cracking down on protests, the ruling party scoring lavish funding from business allies and press freedoms curtailed.
Sweden’s V-Dem Institute now describes the country as an “electoral autocracy” rather than a democracy.
But Kugelman said the G20 presidency “will really deliver a shot in the arm, so to speak, to his already very strong political prospects”.
“He’ll come out of this, I think, politically energised and certainly advantaged politically as well.”
Copyright POOL/AFP/File Ludovic MARIN
Aishwarya KUMAR
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi used his G20 presidency to burnish his image at home and abroad as a steward of national power and prosperity, asserting India’s place in the world ahead of general elections next year.
For months, the 72-year-old leader has been a ubiquitous presence across Delhi, looking down from countless roadside posters and billboards put up across India’s capital.
Among other slogans, they proclaimed the country the “Voice of the Global South”.
India overtook China as the world’s most populous country earlier this year, after displacing former coloniser Britain as its fifth-biggest economy in 2022.
Now Modi is seeking a place on the global stage to match, using the G20 summit as a catalyst to position India as a representative of many others outside traditional power blocs.
Among the most tangible outcomes of the summit was a permanent seat at the table for the African Union, and on the first day, Modi banged a ceremonial gavel to announce that the leaders had reached consensus to adopt a declaration.
It was somewhat unexpected. The grouping had agreed on most things last year in Bali but not all.
But by herding deeply divided leaders into a common — if largely symbolic — statement on vexed issues such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Modi scored a diplomatic win.
The statement avoided any direct criticism of Russia — a long-time arms and energy supplier to India — or summit absentee President Vladimir Putin, who is accused of war crimes by the International Criminal Court.
And on climate, there was no commitment to phase out fossil fuels, but there was backing for the goal of tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030.
“It is a success for India’s diplomacy,” said Ashok Kantha, former Indian ambassador to China.
“We could persuade our friends in the West, and say they need not insist on an explicit condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” he added.
“It’s a good compromise.”
And Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center, said the outcome had “vindicated” India’s policy of “strategic autonomy”.
“It’s definitely not a reflection of a 100 percent consensus, or maybe not even an 80 or 90 percent consensus,” but it did “suggest a level of convergence on more issues than I had expected.
“That’s a bit of a pleasant surprise.”
– Symbolic scene –
Delhi went on an intense beautification drive before the two-day meeting.
Men were hired to chase away monkeys, some 70,000 flower pots were placed across the city and on summit days, swathes of the metropolis were locked down — with some preparations criticised as thousands of homeless people were moved to shelters.
The summit itself was replete with Hindu symbols, a not-so-subtle message from populist Modi to his base.
His political career and success have been based on support from India’s one-billion-plus Hindus and, critics say, stoking enmity toward the country’s large Muslim minority.
The summit’s logo — a globe with a lotus — echoed the symbol of his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.
At the summit table, Modi sat behind a nameplate that said “Bharat” — an ancient Sanskrit word steeped in Hindu religious symbolism — rather than India.
He will go to the world’s biggest election next year as the clear favourite, with the opposition Congress Party plagued by its reputation for corruption.
A recent poll by Pew showed eight in 10 Indians have a positive view of Modi, and almost as many believe he is leading the country to greater influence on the world stage.
His international reputation is a little less lustrous.
Under Modi’s tenure, India has slumped in Freedom House’s rankings for political rights and civil liberties, with police cracking down on protests, the ruling party scoring lavish funding from business allies and press freedoms curtailed.
Sweden’s V-Dem Institute now describes the country as an “electoral autocracy” rather than a democracy.
But Kugelman said the G20 presidency “will really deliver a shot in the arm, so to speak, to his already very strong political prospects”.
“He’ll come out of this, I think, politically energised and certainly advantaged politically as well.”
DW
Published September 10, 2023
Russia's foreign minister and Brazil's president have both lauded the G20 summit on its second and final day.
Follow DW for more.
https://p.dw.com/p/4W9YA
Ukraine has sought other routes, such as the Danube, to export its grain since the deal collapsed
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called for Moscow not to be excluded from any initiative seeking to revive a deal allowing the safe export of Ukrainian grain via the Black Sea.
"No process that marginalizes Russia on the Black Sea grain initiative will be viable," Erdogan told reporters after the close of the G20 summit in New Delhi.
Erdogan announced a forthcoming meeting on the issue between Russia, Ukraine and the United Nations, without specifying a precise date or location, saying prospects of reviving the deal were not "hopeless."
Russia withdrew from the deal, which was brokered by Turkey and the UN, in July, a year after it went into force, saying its own grain and fertilizer exports were still negatively impacted by Western sanctions in other sectors.
Since then, there has been a series of drone and missile attacks on Ukraine's port infrastructure, with Kyiv decrying them as cynical attempts to damage its exports and undermine global food security.
https://p.dw.com/p/4WABo
Russia's Lavrov calls G20 summit a 'success'
22 hours ago
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has praised the G20 summit in New Delhi for avoiding negative references to his country over its invasion of Ukraine in a joint declaration.
"We were able to prevent the West's attempts to 'Ukrainize' the summit agenda," said Lavrov, who represented Moscow at the summit in the absence of President Vladimir Putin.
"The text doesn't mention Russia at all," he said.
That omission prompted Kyiv to say the G20 had "nothing to be proud of" regarding the declaration.
But Lavrov's opinion was apparently shared by others.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, whose country will take the bloc's presidency in December, said "We cannot let geopolitical issues sequester the G20 agenda of discussions," adding: "We have no interest in a divided G20. We need peace and cooperation instead of conflict."
Russia has been conducting a full-scale invasion of Ukraine since February 2022.
Lavrov's comments seem to indicate, however, that Moscow considers that its actions do not clash with the denunciation of the use of force for territorial gain contained in the joint statement.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said he raised concerns about possible Chinese interference in the UK's parliamentary democracy during a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang at the G20 summit in India.
Those concerns, prompted by the reported arrest of two alleged spies, are likely to undermine Britain's current bid to boost its dialogue with China.
Sunak, however, defended his government's efforts to engage more with Beijing, which included a visit to China last month by Foreign Secretary James Cleverly.
"If you look at how countries like America, Japan, Canada all engage with China, that's what they do, because engaging with people allows you to raise concerns directly," he said.
"I think that's a more powerful thing to do."
The Sunday Times newspaper has reported that one of the people detained on suspicion of spying for Beijing is a researcher in the British Parliament.
If that is confirmed, it would represent one of the most serious security breaches involving a hostile state at the parliament.
A Chinese report on the meeting between the two leaders did not mention the spying allegations, only citing Li as saying that "the two sides should properly handle their differences."https://p.dw.com/p/4WA2J
Skip next section Lula says Putin will not be arrested at next year's G20 in Brazil
September 10, 2023
Russian President Vladimir Putin will not be arrested if he attends the G20 summit in Rio de Janerio next year, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said.
The statement comes after Putin skipped the G20 sunmmit in New Delhi, India, this weekend, possibly to avoid the risk of criminal detention. Instead, he was represented by his Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
The International Criminal Court (ICC), in March 2023, issued an arrest warrant against Putin for his role in war crimes against Ukraine. While India is not a member of the ICC and has not officially condemned Russia over the invasion, the risk remained.
Brazil, on the other hand, is an ICC member.
"We enjoy peace and we like to treat people well. So I believe Putin can go easily to Brazil," Lula said in an interview to Indian news network Firstpost.
"If I'm the president of Brazil and if he comes to Brazil, there's no way that he will be arrested."
On Sunday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi passed the ceremonial gavel to Lula, closing the 2023 G20 summit.
"I want to congratulate Brazil's president and my friend Lula da Silva, and hand over the presidency's gavel to him," Modi said.
Assuming the bloc's presidency, Lula said "geopolitical issues" should not derail discussions, without outright mentioning the diplomatic tussle over the war in Ukraine. "We have no interest in a divided G20. We need peace and cooperation instead of conflict," he said.
Skip next section Leaders gather for 'One Future' roundtable
September 10, 2023
Leaders of the G20 will continue talks for a second and final day on Sunday.
The third working session of roundtable talks will be under the heading "One Future," with the aim of discussing how to deal with banking and financial reform among others issues.
No other major joint decisions are expected following Saturday's consensus on a joint declaration.
Moscow managed to avoid language in the document explicitly condemned its invasion of Ukraine, in contrast to last year's G20 in Bali, when a "complete and unconditional withdrawal" was demanded.
https://p.dw.com/p/4W9YA
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi hands a sapling to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at the summit
What you need to know
Biden says he spoke with China's Li Qiang
15 hours ago
Biden says he spoke with China's Li Qiang
Biden said on Sunday that he spoke with Chinese Premier Li Qiang at the G20 summit.
This the highest-level meeting between US and Chinese officials in nearly 10 months, since Biden spoke with President Xi Jinping at last year's G20 in Indonesia.
"My team, my staff still meets with President Xi's people and his cabinet," Biden told reporters. "I met with his No.2 person in India today."
"We talked about stability," he said, adding that they discussed developments in the Southern Hemisphere. "It wasn't confrontational at all."
Biden said that China's economy was in "crisis."
"One of the major economic tenets of [Xi's] plan isn't working at all right now," he Biden said. "I'm not happy for that, but it's not working."
The US president said he believed that China's economic troubles were unlikely to spark an invasion of Taiwan.
"I don't think this is going to cause China to invade Taiwan," he said. "As a matter of fact, the opposite, probably doesn't have the same capacity that it had before."
https://p.dw.com/p/4WAiJ
What you need to know
Biden says he spoke with China's Li Qiang
15 hours ago
Biden says he spoke with China's Li Qiang
Biden said on Sunday that he spoke with Chinese Premier Li Qiang at the G20 summit.
This the highest-level meeting between US and Chinese officials in nearly 10 months, since Biden spoke with President Xi Jinping at last year's G20 in Indonesia.
"My team, my staff still meets with President Xi's people and his cabinet," Biden told reporters. "I met with his No.2 person in India today."
"We talked about stability," he said, adding that they discussed developments in the Southern Hemisphere. "It wasn't confrontational at all."
Biden said that China's economy was in "crisis."
"One of the major economic tenets of [Xi's] plan isn't working at all right now," he Biden said. "I'm not happy for that, but it's not working."
The US president said he believed that China's economic troubles were unlikely to spark an invasion of Taiwan.
"I don't think this is going to cause China to invade Taiwan," he said. "As a matter of fact, the opposite, probably doesn't have the same capacity that it had before."
https://p.dw.com/p/4WAiJ
21 hours ago
Ukraine has sought other routes, such as the Danube, to export its grain since the deal collapsed
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called for Moscow not to be excluded from any initiative seeking to revive a deal allowing the safe export of Ukrainian grain via the Black Sea.
"No process that marginalizes Russia on the Black Sea grain initiative will be viable," Erdogan told reporters after the close of the G20 summit in New Delhi.
Erdogan announced a forthcoming meeting on the issue between Russia, Ukraine and the United Nations, without specifying a precise date or location, saying prospects of reviving the deal were not "hopeless."
Russia withdrew from the deal, which was brokered by Turkey and the UN, in July, a year after it went into force, saying its own grain and fertilizer exports were still negatively impacted by Western sanctions in other sectors.
Since then, there has been a series of drone and missile attacks on Ukraine's port infrastructure, with Kyiv decrying them as cynical attempts to damage its exports and undermine global food security.
https://p.dw.com/p/4WABo
Russia's Lavrov calls G20 summit a 'success'
22 hours ago
Moscow has welcomed the joint declaration of G20 leaders, which fails to condemn Russia over its invasion of Ukraine
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has praised the G20 summit in New Delhi for avoiding negative references to his country over its invasion of Ukraine in a joint declaration.
"We were able to prevent the West's attempts to 'Ukrainize' the summit agenda," said Lavrov, who represented Moscow at the summit in the absence of President Vladimir Putin.
"The text doesn't mention Russia at all," he said.
That omission prompted Kyiv to say the G20 had "nothing to be proud of" regarding the declaration.
But Lavrov's opinion was apparently shared by others.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, whose country will take the bloc's presidency in December, said "We cannot let geopolitical issues sequester the G20 agenda of discussions," adding: "We have no interest in a divided G20. We need peace and cooperation instead of conflict."
Russia has been conducting a full-scale invasion of Ukraine since February 2022.
Lavrov's comments seem to indicate, however, that Moscow considers that its actions do not clash with the denunciation of the use of force for territorial gain contained in the joint statement.
23 hours ago
Sunak and his wife, Akshata Murty, both prayed at the Akshardham Hindu temple on the sidelines of the summit
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said he raised concerns about possible Chinese interference in the UK's parliamentary democracy during a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang at the G20 summit in India.
Those concerns, prompted by the reported arrest of two alleged spies, are likely to undermine Britain's current bid to boost its dialogue with China.
Sunak, however, defended his government's efforts to engage more with Beijing, which included a visit to China last month by Foreign Secretary James Cleverly.
"If you look at how countries like America, Japan, Canada all engage with China, that's what they do, because engaging with people allows you to raise concerns directly," he said.
"I think that's a more powerful thing to do."
The Sunday Times newspaper has reported that one of the people detained on suspicion of spying for Beijing is a researcher in the British Parliament.
If that is confirmed, it would represent one of the most serious security breaches involving a hostile state at the parliament.
A Chinese report on the meeting between the two leaders did not mention the spying allegations, only citing Li as saying that "the two sides should properly handle their differences."https://p.dw.com/p/4WA2J
Skip next section Lula says Putin will not be arrested at next year's G20 in Brazil
September 10, 2023
Russian President Vladimir Putin will not be arrested if he attends the G20 summit in Rio de Janerio next year, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said.
The statement comes after Putin skipped the G20 sunmmit in New Delhi, India, this weekend, possibly to avoid the risk of criminal detention. Instead, he was represented by his Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
The International Criminal Court (ICC), in March 2023, issued an arrest warrant against Putin for his role in war crimes against Ukraine. While India is not a member of the ICC and has not officially condemned Russia over the invasion, the risk remained.
Brazil, on the other hand, is an ICC member.
"We enjoy peace and we like to treat people well. So I believe Putin can go easily to Brazil," Lula said in an interview to Indian news network Firstpost.
"If I'm the president of Brazil and if he comes to Brazil, there's no way that he will be arrested."
On Sunday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi passed the ceremonial gavel to Lula, closing the 2023 G20 summit.
"I want to congratulate Brazil's president and my friend Lula da Silva, and hand over the presidency's gavel to him," Modi said.
Assuming the bloc's presidency, Lula said "geopolitical issues" should not derail discussions, without outright mentioning the diplomatic tussle over the war in Ukraine. "We have no interest in a divided G20. We need peace and cooperation instead of conflict," he said.
Skip next section Leaders gather for 'One Future' roundtable
September 10, 2023
Leaders of the G20 will continue talks for a second and final day on Sunday.
The third working session of roundtable talks will be under the heading "One Future," with the aim of discussing how to deal with banking and financial reform among others issues.
No other major joint decisions are expected following Saturday's consensus on a joint declaration.
Moscow managed to avoid language in the document explicitly condemned its invasion of Ukraine, in contrast to last year's G20 in Bali, when a "complete and unconditional withdrawal" was demanded.
G20 leaders pay respects at Mahatma Gandhi memorial
September 10, 2023
Leaders of the G20 (Group of 20) gathered at Rajghat, the memorial to Mahatma Gandhi, who is considered the father of the Indian independence movement.
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed the leaders to the hallowed site to honor Gandhi, revered for his stance of non-violence. Gandhi was gunned down by a Hindu nationalist in 1948.
September 10, 2023
Leaders of the G20 (Group of 20) gathered at Rajghat, the memorial to Mahatma Gandhi, who is considered the father of the Indian independence movement.
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed the leaders to the hallowed site to honor Gandhi, revered for his stance of non-violence. Gandhi was gunned down by a Hindu nationalist in 1948.
In the decades since Gandhi's assassination, it has hosted the funeral pyres of India's top statesmen and women.
Following a Hindu devotional hymn, those who gathered stood for a moment's silence before leaving wreaths to honor the peace icon.
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