Despite condemnation of China’s human rights abuses and concern over its intentions in the Taiwan Strait, the mostly positive tone set by Xi’s bilateral conversation with US President Joe Biden continued until the end of the summit. But they were also opportunities for Xi’s counterparts to air their grievances in person. Albanese, the first Australian prime minister to meet Xi since 2016, described their meeting as “positive and constructive” but had touched on the detention of Australian citizens Cheng Lei and Yang Hengjun, as well as human rights abuses against of the Uighur population in Xinjiang. . Macron, meanwhile, asked Xi to persuade Putin to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine and reportedly said he would like to visit China next year, Covid-19 restrictions permitting. Xi and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida were due to hold their first face-to-face talks on Thursday. The summit was dominated by geopolitics, to the chagrin of its Indonesian hosts, who wanted it to focus on food and energy security and the climate crisis. Much of the opening day business was drowned out by analysis of the Biden-Xi meeting 24 hours earlier. On Wednesday, the G20 quickly became an ad hoc meeting of the G7 as leaders gathered to discuss their response to the news that a Russian-made missile had landed in Poland, killing two people near the country’s border with Ukraine. The joint Bali statement issued on Wednesday fell short of non-binding platitudes. On the climate emergency, G20 leaders simply said they had decided to “continue efforts to limit global temperature rise to 1.5C”, including accelerating efforts to “phase out” unabated carbon use . Unlike Xi, the Bali meeting further isolated Vladimir Putin, who sent his foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, to act as a diplomatic sack after several days of dramatic developments in Ukraine, including Russia’s withdrawal from Kherson. World leaders did not take part in the usual official “family photo” because of widespread discomfort with Russia’s presence at the summit. Lavrov stayed put, while Volodymyr Zelensky referred strongly to the “G19” – the G20 minus Russia – in a video speech. Lavrov left Bali on Tuesday evening before the summit concluded. Even Russia’s traditional allies India and China appeared to be distancing themselves from the Kremlin, with Wednesday’s statement condemning Russia’s aggression in Ukraine “in the strongest terms” and demanding its unconditional withdrawal. “Most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine,” the statement said, signaling that Russia, which is a member of the G20, opposed the wording. The positions taken by China and India were not immediately clear. The most anticipated bilateral meeting took place before the summit even started. Biden’s first meeting as president with Xi signaled that the “reset” of relations between the two superpowers had begun, according to White House officials. Biden went some way to calming regional nerves by saying he had no reason to believe a Chinese invasion of Taiwan was “imminent” but did not shy away from condemning Beijing’s provocative military maneuvers around the island this summer. . However, he appeased Xi with assurances that Washington had not deviated from the “one China” policy. The official Chinese account described the talks as “thorough, frank and constructive”, adding that officials from both governments would build on areas of consensus – a step forward compared to the acrimony of recent months. His predecessor Rishi Sunak had admittedly set the bar very low, but his diplomatic debut was a modest success. Despite looming crises at home – over allegations of bullying by Dominic Raab and Gavin Williamson, concern over Jeremy Hunt’s heavy-handed autumn statement and criticism of his government’s handling of Channel crossings for migrants and refugees – Sunak passed almost his first major test of foreign policy. His strong condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – and the glare he turned to Lavrov – will have gone down well in Kyiv. Sunak’s planned meeting with Xi was canceled due to time constraints, but his willingness to meet the Chinese leader was interpreted as a departure from Truss’ hardline approach to Beijing and was in line with the summit’s less confrontational tone towards its second-largest economy. world. .
