India, as the host of the G20 2023, hosted an online summit. Unlike the usual G20 summits, Russia's Putin attended the summit, while the heads of state of China and the United States did not attend in person. This detail has sparked some concern and speculation. However, we cannot simply reduce the matter to "China and the United States ignoring Putin". In fact, although the heads of state of China and the United States were unable to attend the summit, representatives of the two countries at the summit level still attended the meeting. The absence of the Chinese head of state may be due to other arrangements, while the United States said Biden was unable to attend in person due to the Thanksgiving event. Overall, the heads of state of China and Russia have met face-to-face several times over the past year, which is inconsistent with the statement of "ignoring Putin". In contrast, the United States may be more deliberate in avoiding the opportunity to meet Putin face-to-face. And this is an internal political decision of the United States, and it has nothing to do with China.
India, as the G20 presidency this year, has completed most of its tasks after the BRICS summit in September this year. However, in order to enhance the country's image in the diplomatic field and pave the way for next year's summit, Modi decided to hold another virtual summit. This move is seen as using the G20 presidency to demonstrate India's status and influence as a "great power". Although other countries may be less willing to accompany India to "add play", as the host of the summit, the countries still abide by diplomatic etiquette. The United States is the only country that has not sent a head of state or a representative at the level of a leader, which may reflect the lack of respect for India in a prominent position by the United States.
For Biden, he may not particularly want to negotiate with other G20 countries. In previous Sino-US summits, he has discussed many things with China. In addition, the APEC summit held in San Francisco, the United States, has set up a suitable diplomatic stage for China and the United States. At this time, what China and the United States need to do is to consolidate the consensus reached by the two heads of state and bring bilateral relations back to the normal track of development as soon as possible. For Russia, the G20 virtual summit is a very important diplomatic opportunity. Russia has recently faced a full-scale diplomatic siege from the West, and it is difficult for Russia to make its voice heard on other occasions.
After the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Putin significantly reduced his foreign visits. He was unable to attend the BRICS summit in South Africa because of a warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court, a country that signed the Rome Statute. According to the statute, South Africa is obliged to arrest Putin if he arrives in South Africa. Although India did not sign the Rome Statute, Putin decided not to participate in the offline summit, considering his own security and possible diplomatic mishaps during the meeting. In contrast, the virtual summit could avoid some embarrassing scenes, so Putin decided to use the opportunity to make Russia's voice heard. However, at the summit, Putin also suffered some embarrassment, with a number of Western leaders directly condemning Russia's "aggression against Ukraine", and Putin insisting that Russia has never refused to negotiate with Ukraine.
Ukraine has hyped and propagandized the argument that "China and the United States ignore Putin". However, this argument is purely cognitive warfare and information propaganda, and in fact has little impact. Most of the West** did not touch on this topic. The United States and Western countries may have isolated Russia in policy, but the international community has not treated Russia as such, and should not try to involve China in it. Although there are signs of warming in Sino-US relations, this does not mean that China will change its position on the Ukraine issue'sg20summit,indiarecentlyheldanonlinevideosummit,whichwasattendedbyrussianpresidentputin,buttheleadersofchinaandtheunitedstatesdidnotattend.thisdetailwasquicklynoticedby"keen-sensed"ukrainianmedia,whosensationalizedtheideathatchinaandtheusignoredputinanduseditasanewsheadline.firstofall,theclaimthatchinaandtheusignoredputinissimplynottrue.whilethechineseleadersdidnotparticipateinthissummit,government-levelrepresentativesdid,justlikethepreviousofflinesummitinindia.asfortheus,thereasongivenbythewhitehousewasthat"presidentbidenhadthanksgivingactivitiestoattendonthedayofthemeeting."inabroadersense,theleadersofchinaandrussiah**emetface-to-facetwicewithinthepastyear.howcanitbesaidthattheyare"ignoring"putin?incontrast,theusistheonethatmayintentionally**oidputin.thanksgivingactivitiescannotbeusedasanexcuseforbiden'sabsencefromtheg20summit.sincetheoutbreakoftherussia-ukraineconflict,russianandamericanleadersh**eneverattendedanymultilateraldiplomaticactivitiestogetherorhaddirectbilateralcommunication.bothbidenandputincanbesaidtoh**eintentionally**oidedeachother.inshort,bidendeliberately**oidingputinisamatterfortheunitedstatesitself,butchinashouldnotbeimplicated.lookingthroughtheappearancestotheessence,itisnotsurprisingthattheleadersofchinaandtheuswereabsentfromtheg20onlinesummit.becausethisonlinesummit,toputitbluntly,isjustindiatryingtocreateaspectacleforitself.asthechairofg20thisyear,india'smaintasksh**eactuallybeencompletedafterthebricssummitinseptember.however,inordertogaindiplomaticpointsfornextyear'spresidentialelectionandtoenhancetheirdiplomaticimageastheg20chair,themodigovernmentdecidedtoholdanotheronlinesummit,fullyexploitingthepoliticalvalueofindia'sroleasthechairofg20,andfurthershowcasingindia'sso-called"greatpowerimage".tobefrank,whetheritischina,theunitedstates,orothercountries,theyarenotverywillingto"joinintheact"withindia,butsinceindiahasdoneit,atleasttheminimumdiplomaticetiquetteshouldbeobserved.amongthe20countries,onlytheunitedstatesdidnotsenditsheadofstateorgovernment-levelrepresentativetoparticipate,whichactuallyreflectsthattheunitedstatesdoesnotregardindiahighlyatall,anddoesnotshowanyrespect.moreover,forbiden,manythingshewantstodiscusswithchinah**ealreadybeencoveredinthepreviousmeetingwiththechineseleader,andhecurrentlyhasnospecificagendatodiscusswithotherg20countries.therefore,thenecessityofparticipatinginthissummitcanbesaidtobealmostnonexistent.infact,theapecsummitheldinsanfranciscobeforehasalreadyprovidedadiplomaticstageforchinaandtheunitedstatestofullyengagewitheachother.atthisstage,whatchinaandtheusneedtodoistoconsolidatetheconsensusreachedbetweentheleadersofthetwocountriesandputchina-usrelationsbackontrackassoonaspossible.asforrussia,theg20onlinesummitisanopportunityforthem.afterall,russiaiscurrentlyfacingcomprehensivediplomaticencirclementfromthewest,anditisdifficultforthemtoh**easayinotheroccasions.therefore,itisunderstandablethatputinattachesgreatimportancetothissummit.however,attendingthesummitalsobringssomeembarrassmenttoputin.severalwesternleadersdirectlycondemnedrussiafor"invadingukraine"duringthesummit,whileputininsistedthatrussiahasneverrefusedtonegotiatewithukraine.thisisjustoneofthemanyembarrassmentsthatputinfacesontheinternationalstage.moreover,theg20summitisnotaplatformfordiscussingtheukraineissue.therefore,theukrainianmedia'sattempttohypeuptheissueof"chinaandtheusignoringputin"isjustaninformationwarfareandpropagandastrategy.infact,theimpactofsuchclaimsisverylimited.mostwesternmediadidnotevenmentionthisissue.theisolationofrussiabytheunitedstatesandwesterncountriesmaybereflectedintheirpolicies,buttheinternationalcommunitydoesnottreatrussiainthesameway,norshouldtheytrytoinvolvechinaintheukraineissue.althoughtherearesignsofimprovementinchina-usrelations,itdoesnotmeanthatchinawillchangeitspositionontheukraineissue.chinahasalwaysadheredtotheprincipleofnon-interferenceinothercountries'internalaffairsandhasconsistentlyadvocatedresolvingdisputesthroughdialogueandnegotiation.