G20 Summit Makes Controversial Concession to China's Demand

The joint statement from G20 summit participants was shaped by consensus, resulting in it being rather devoid of substance. At China's insistence, any mention of Russia's aggression against Ukraine was omitted, but a reference to the "war in Ukraine" was retained in the statement. The phrasing in the statement regarding the pace of phasing out fossil fuels is also highly vague.

Leaders at the G20 failed to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine in a joint statement after China and Russia rejected language implicating Moscow in the conflict. This move was seen as an attempt by Beijing and Moscow to demonstrate a lack of global consensus in supporting Kyiv.

The summit declaration in New Delhi only references the "war in Ukraine," a phrasing that implies equal culpability on both sides. It's worth noting that the US and NATO allies had previously rejected such wording, as it implies equal responsibility for the conflict on both Russia and Ukraine.

In the previous G20 declaration adopted in Indonesia in November 2022, a more realistic definition was used, explicitly mentioning the "aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine." Western diplomats have stated that China's refusal to endorse this wording was the key reason for pushing host country India to agree to contentious assessments.

In response to the statement, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry remarked, "From the standpoint of Russia's aggression against Ukraine, there is nothing to be proud of in the G20. Obviously, Ukrainian participation would have helped the participants better understand the situation."

The declaration also includes a commitment from the world's largest economies to "continue and promote efforts to triple global renewable energy capacities," but it doesn't set any specific deadlines for the gradual phase-out of fossil fuels. China and Saudi Arabia led efforts to block such statements during G20 meetings in July.

"We emphasized the humanitarian suffering and additional adverse consequences of the war in Ukraine for global food and energy security, supply chains, macrofinancial stability, inflation, and growth," the joint statement reads. "There were different views and evaluations of the situation."

The removal of Western criticism of Russia allowed the G20 to reach consensus on other issues, such as a pledge to resume Ukrainian grain exports via the Black Sea, as reported by the Financial Times citing a senior Western official present at the summit. This source indicated that the compromise was necessary to maintain consensus.