- Oliver Slough
- BBC News
Finance ministers of major economic powers failed to agree on a final statement following a summit in India, after China refused to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Chinese delegation declined to accept parts of a G20 statement expressing regret for “Russia’s aggression in the strongest terms.”
Moscow said that “anti-Russian” Western countries had “destabilized” the G20.
This comes after China this week published a proposed plan to end the conflict that some considered pro-Russian.
India, which hosted the G20 talks this week in the southern city of Bengaluru, issued a “presidency summary” on various issues discussed by the ministers. She noted the existence of “different assessments of the situation” in Ukraine, and the sanctions imposed on Russia.
According to a note posted in the margins of the summary, “all member states except Russia and China agreed” on two paragraphs summarizing the war. The two paragraphs were taken from the declaration of G20 leaders who met in Bali, Indonesia in November, and have been amended to criticize “in the strongest terms the aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine”.
China has been in hiding since the invasion a year ago, but in recent weeks it has intensified its diplomatic efforts on the conflict. Wang Yi, its foreign minister, toured Europe this week, culminating in a warm welcome from Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
This week, China published a 12-point plan to end the war in Ukraine, calling for peace talks and respect for national sovereignty. However, the document did not specifically say that Russia should withdraw its forces from Ukraine, nor did it condemn the Russian invasion.
Russia welcomed the Chinese document, prompting US President Joe Biden to comment, “(President) Putin applauds it, so how can it be good?”
After the G20 meeting, Ajay Seth, a senior Indian official, told a press conference that Russian and Chinese representatives did not agree to the wording on Ukraine because “their mandate is to deal with economic and financial issues.”
“On the other hand, all the other 18 countries felt that the war had repercussions on the global economy” and should be mentioned, he added.
The 17-paragraph summary of the summit’s course also mentioned the recent earthquake in Turkey, debt of low- and middle-income countries, global tax policy, and food insecurity.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said it regretted that “the activities of the G20 continue to be destabilized by the Western group and used in an anti-Russian manner.”
Moscow accused the United States, the European Union and the G7 countries of “obvious blackmail” and urged them to “recognize the objective realities of a multipolar world”.
But German Finance Minister Christian Lindner said: “This is a war. This war has a cause, and one cause, and that is Russia and Vladimir Putin. This must be clearly expressed at the G20 financial meeting.”
Previous meetings of G20 members have also failed to produce a joint statement since Russia invaded Ukraine in February.
On Thursday, the United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly supported a resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The resolution was passed with the support of 141 countries, with 32 abstentions, while seven countries – including Russia – voted against it.