The 2023 G20 Summit was held in New Delhi, India, on Sept. 9. With the forum being known as a significant annual meeting for major world leaders and diplomats representing their respective countries, two powerful heads of state were notably absent from the affair. Russia’s strongman President Vladimir Putin, did not make an appearance, particularly because he and his country have become a global pariah after he initiated his widely condemned invasion of Ukraine. In addition, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Putin in March of this year, which has made him hesitant to travel outside of his home country. China’s President Xi Jinping also did not show up, which raised questions and rampant speculation, as China is a major player on the world stage, and Xi is arguably the most powerful leader on the planet. China offered no explanation for his absence and sent second-in-command Chinese Premier Li Qiang instead.
So why did China make this decision? And what impact did it have on the relations between the United States and other countries at the G20? First, China’s state of affairs domestically shows a country that is in a time of relative crisis. When China opened up its economy after almost three years of strict lockdowns and restrictions, many economists expected the country to roar back to its pre-COVID-19 economic output. It never materialized. Now, in 2023, a real estate crisis is growing in the country, set up by years of building empty apartments, and a debt crisis is growing because of China’s excessive borrowing from investors overseas. China’s youth unemployment rate, which includes a range of 16 to 24 year olds, is at 21.3%, as many Chinese college graduates are graduating with no career prospects. In response to young Chinese economic woes, Xi remarked that young people should learn to strive to work hard in difficult or remote areas and that they should learn to “eat bitterness,” which is a Chinese colloquial term that means to endure hardship. China is also in an uncomfortable position regarding its foreign policy. Many countries have seen their position on the war in Ukraine as too vague and have criticized Xi for his close relations to Putin and his refusal to condemn the invasion. Some analysts have even suggested that Xi may have avoided the G20 in solidarity with Putin in response to the arrest warrant he received from the ICC. Or, perhaps a factor that plays into Xi’s absence is the border tension between India and China. With China and Russia both having their leaders decline to attend the G20, the United States pounced on the opportunity to make new alliances with different countries.
In a partnership that would’ve been thought impossible decades ago, the U.S. and Vietnam inked a historic deal at the G20, where U.S. and Vietnamese officials discussed an arms supply agreement, as well as boosting cooperation on semiconductor chips and rare earth minerals. Vietnam also lifted the U.S. to its highest diplomatic status, alongside China and Russia. This new agreement comes at a crucial time for the U.S., as a major priority of the Biden administration’s foreign policy is securing global supply chains, particularly in the production and manufacturing of semiconductors. Semiconductors are vitally important for the contemporary world economy, and they are seen as essential for the advancement of technologies that will spur U.S. competitiveness. They are an integral part of smartphones, cloud computing, machine learning and artificial intelligence. As U.S.-China relations grow frostier, U.S. diplomats and officials are scrambling to stake out a place in the world’s global supply chain without needing to rely on China, which still leads the world in semiconductor production. With this new deal, the U.S. racks up a win in its policy of competition with China, while Vietnam seeks to find its own foothold and remain on good terms with superpower countries as the geopolitical landscape changes.
However, not everything went well for the U.S. and its allies, as a joint statement released by the countries that attended notably omitted any condemnation of Russia’s invasion and war in Ukraine and instead lamented the “suffering” of the Ukrainian people, as well as the “adverse impacts of wars and conflicts around the world.” The declaration also called on Russia to allow grain and fertilizer to be exported from Ukraine as the world deals with shortages of both. A spokesman for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said that the omission of condemnation of Russian aggression was “nothing to be proud of,” while Jake Sullivan, President Joe Biden’s National Security Advisor, said the joint statement “does a very good job of standing up for the principle that states cannot use force to seek territorial acquisitions.” Why did the joint declaration make no mention or condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine? According to foreign policy experts, joint declarations at the G20 usually take on the characteristics of the host country. In this case, India has generally had the reputation of being neutral in conflicts between major world powers, as the country stayed neutral during the Cold War, and Prime Minister Narenda Modi has refused to condemn the war in Ukraine, calling for a cease-fire instead. With the G20 statement, Modi and India looked to continue their record of neutrality and did not want to “antagonize” Russia or China. Much to the U.S. and other Western countries’ dismay, India will likely continue to hold this position as it aims to appear as an ascendant nation that is able to have good relations with many varying geopolitical factions, as Vietnam is trying to do the same.
The 2023 G20 summit in New Delhi showed a trend of an increasingly multilateral geopolitical landscape. Gone are the days of two competing superpowers, such as in the era of the Cold War with tensions between the U.S.S.R and the U.S., but today’s world is one where many countries are looking to expand their influence and make their foreign policy decisions autonomously. India is one example, where the U.S. and NATO cannot seem to convince India to go along with their condemnation and restriction of Russia and its leader. Another example is China, which was once hyped up during the pre-COVID-19 years as an emerging superpower that would one day overtake the U.S. in a Cold War-like conflict, only to find that in 2023, the country is reeling from numerous critical issues domestically. Or take the U.S., for example, which many pundits and politicians, such as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, call a “nation in decline” to make important new agreements with other countries that give it the upper hand in securing the global supply chain. Many people are quick to label certain countries as “emerging superpowers” or “nations in decline,” but the truth shows that the world today is brimming with countries that are simply looking to maintain their own interests and expand their influence. Whether or not that means they will become “superpowers,” like in the era of the Cold War, is another story.
Ben Oppenheimer, FCRH ’24, is a film and television major from Hempstead, N.Y.
