This year, India hosted the Group of 20 (G20) and hosted a virtual summit around the world. Although the heads of state of China and the United States did not attend, Russia's ** Putin attended the summit. However, Ukraine** has sensitively captured this matter, hyped up the argument that China and the United States "ignore" Putin, and tried to trigger the topic and create **. In fact, this argument does not hold water. Although China and the United States did not attend in person, they each sent representatives at the summit level, which is consistent with the previous offline summits held by India. Moreover, over the past year, the heads of state of China and Russia have already had the opportunity to meet face-to-face, which has nothing to do with the Ukrainian crisis. Biden in the United States was absent because of the Thanksgiving event, not because of Putin's evasion. This article will focus on India's motivation for hosting the summit, the reasons for the absence of China and the United States, and the significance of Putin's participation, in order to comprehensively analyze the event.
India's G20 presidency was supposed to complete most of its tasks after the BRICS summit in September this year. However, in order to gain a political advantage in next year's ***, India has decided to host another virtual summit to show its image as a great power. Although other countries were not enthusiastic about it, they participated in the summit out of diplomatic courtesy. It is worth mentioning that the United States is the only one that did not send a representative at the head of state or summit level to attend, which can reflect the importance that the United States attaches to India.
As the host of the G20, India has further strengthened its presidency through this virtual summit and has taken the opportunity to enhance its reputation at home and abroad. However, what we need to see is that the essence of this summit is not important, it is more to meet the political needs of India.
1. The practical reasons for China's absence
As far as China is concerned, the previous China-US summit has already talked about a lot of things that they want to talk about. At the G20 summit, China does not particularly want to hold talks with other countries, so its absence is understandable. In fact, the APEC summit has provided a diplomatic arena for both China and the United States to fully demonstrate their influence. At present, Sino-US relations are gradually warming up, and the two sides need to digest the consensus reached by the two heads of state and return bilateral relations to normal as soon as possible.
2. The real reason for the absence of the United States
Biden's absence in the United States has indeed caused some concern and speculation, however, Biden's absence is not a concession to Putin. In fact, Biden was absent because it was Thanksgiving, and he had to attend the Thanksgiving event. Such situations are not uncommon, and it is normal for leaders to be absent from international conferences for various reasons. Therefore, the assertion that the United States is ignoring Putin is untenable.
Absenteeism from the summit does not mean disregard for Putin, but decisions made due to internal and external factors in their respective countries. Therefore, we should not read this matter too far, let alone involve China in the Ukraine issue.
1. Russia's diplomatic dilemma
Due to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Western countries have imposed a comprehensive diplomatic encirclement on Russia, making it difficult for Russia to express its voice to the outside world. With the exception of a few multilateral platforms, Russia's diplomatic discourse has been suppressed. Putin himself has also been unable to attend some important international conferences in the past because of the impact of the conflict.
2. The online summit has become an opportunity for Putin to demonstrate his position
In view of the current situation, Putin decided to participate in the G20 virtual summit as an opportunity to express Russia's position. While online quarrels are still inevitable, at least some embarrassment can be avoided. Putin stressed that Russia has never refused peace talks with Ukraine, but it is Ukraine that has rejected peace talks with Russia. The summit provided a valuable opportunity for Putin to raise Russia's voice to the outside world.
Ukraine's hype of "China and the United States ignoring Putin" is purely cognitive warfare, and it has little practical significance. In fact, both the Chinese and American sides have their legitimate reasons for their absence. China has fully expressed its position through previous Sino-US summits, and the absence of the United States is related to the timing of the Thanksgiving event, not a disregard for Putin. Putin's participation in this summit is to convey Russia's position to the world. In evaluating this incident, we need to be polite, not over-interpret, and avoid involving China in the Ukraine issue. The impact of the whole incident is far less significant than that shown by Ukraine**, and the international community is not isolating Russia and not trying to involve China.