The G20 Summit in Delhi has been a mega-success and India’s presidency of the group of 20 nations (plus the African Union) has also been the most productive ever. There were several wins for India, the West and even Russia — which was not named in the joint declaration. But there were some obvious losers as well. The absence of Chinese President Xi Jinping gave India a free road to emerge as the leader of the Global South. Turkiye’s Erdogan remained timid and out of the spotlight for much of the summit, as countries and leaders who share the best of ties with India remained in focus. Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was strongly rebuked by India by the end of the summit.
China: The Absent Dragon
Xi Jinping’s decision to skip the G20 Summit was seen as a glaring absence that could not go unnoticed. Ultimately, this did not pan out the way China would have wanted it to. Instead of Xi Jinping’s absence being talked about, the narrative has shifted to how India managed to achieve consensus at a time of tremendous geopolitical tensions. Xi also possibly chose to avoid the summit to save face after China was upstaged by India on the matter of the African Union’s inclusion and a concerted call for a multilateral effort to counter debt traps. The India-Middle East corridor which has been agreed upon is yet another snub to China, as many of its BRI projects now face obsolescence. Xi may have intended his absence as a snub to Modi, but he has come off as having skipped the event to avoid direct confrontations and uncomfortable questions. Also, during the G20 Summit, Italy conveyed to China that it would soon be quitting the Belt and Road Initiative. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni would have conveyed this to Xi Jinping personally had he attended the summit, thereby adding insult to injury.
Turkiye: The Invisible Player
During the whole of the G20 Summit, Turkiye’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan remained largely overshadowed. With a burgeoning economic crisis back home and inflation at record high, Turkiye would have ideally wanted to be part of the India-Middle East Economic corridor. But as it stands today, the corridor bypasses Turkiye completely. Perhaps Turkiye’s discomfiture was evident when soon after the signing of the corridor pact, Erdogan issued a statement saying, “India is our greatest trade partner in South Asia.” As a direct implication, he subtly suggested that Turkiye should have been part of the corridor.
India had selflessly helped Turkiye during last year’s earthquake. However, Erdogan’s friendliness towards Pakistan and his position on Kashmir has led India to be wary of him. This was also evident in PM Modi’s recent visit to Turkiye’s arch-rival nation Greece, and the subsequent decision to become part of the Israel-Greece-Cyprus trilateral. However, New Delhi did work with Ankara for the Delhi Declaration. In what is also a sign of Turkiye perhaps wanting to course correct and fix ties with India, President Erdogan pitched for India’s inclusion as a UNSC member and congratulated India on the success of Chandrayaan-3. However, if one were to go by the amount of screen time Erdogan got during the summit, it would be safe to say he was anything but a winner.
Canada: The Habitual Offender
Even before the summit kicked off, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had rubbed India the wrong way by exclaiming to Ukrainian President Zelenskyy how he was disappointed at the lack of an invitation for Kyiv to join the Delhi meet. Throughout the G20 summit, India has made it a point to let Canada know that bilateral ties are not in a state of normalcy.
For a host of reasons, Justin Trudeau’s visit to Delhi will be seen as a marked failure and quite an embarrassing one at that. At the G20 Summit, the Canadian prime minister’s performance was lacklustre. He remained missing in all the major announcements and skipped the G20 gala dinner. He did not have major bilateral meetings with any other leader apart from PM Modi during the summit. Instead of a breakthrough or a rekindling of ties, Trudeau received a thinly-veiled rebuke from India over shelter for Khalistani extremists. Despite this, Trudeau has remained defiant. In a press conference after the meeting, Trudeau played down the castigation.
The G20 Summit in Delhi has emerged as a platform which gave a voice to the voiceless. India has successfully overshadowed its frequent critics to prove that it has the backing of powerful countries. The Global South, as a consequence, is the overall winner.
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