While there won’t be a face-off between Presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin, the aftermath from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and rising tensions between China and the West will be prominent when world leaders meet in Bali this week.
The Group of 20 members began their discussions on the tourist island in Indonesia on Tuesday with the uplifting slogan “recover together, recover stronger.” While Putin is not present, Biden will meet with Xi Jinping of China, get to know Rishi Sunak, Giorgia Meloni of Italy, and the next British Prime Minister.
Fears of a faltering global economy and geopolitical concerns related to the conflict in Ukraine are likely to overshadow the summit’s avowed goals of health, renewable energy, and digital transformation.
The nearly nine-month-old conflict has hampered grain, oil, and natural gas trade, and it has moved much of the summit’s attention to the security of food and energy sources.
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Meanwhile, the United States and its allies in Europe and Asia are increasingly confronting an aggressive China, forcing growing G-20 economies like India, Brazil, and the host nation Indonesia to balance between stronger forces.
Joko Widodo, the president of Indonesia, has made an effort to mend fences within the G-20 over the conflict in Ukraine. The summer saw Widodo, better known as Jokowi, travel to both Russia and Ukraine for the first time as an Asian leader since the invasion.
He extended a summit invitation to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is not a G-20 member. It’s anticipated that Zelenskyy will take part online.
War and geopolitical risk reduction are among Jokowi’s top concerns, according to Bhima Yudhistira, director of the Center of Economic and Law Studies in Jakarta, Indonesia.
The G-20 summit in Rome last year was the group’s first in-person meeting since the outbreak, albeit the presidents of China and Russia were absent.
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Conference in Thailand immediately follows the United Nations climate conference in Egypt, the summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Cambodia, which Vice President Biden and other G-20 leaders are attending, and this year’s event.
In a region where China is trying to increase its influence, the American president promised to cooperate with Southeast Asian countries on Saturday, saying “we’re going to construct a brighter future that we all want to see.” Biden met with the leaders of Japan and South Korea on Sunday to talk about China and the danger posed by North Korea.
