People walk by the main gate of the Kraton, also known as the Palace of Yogyakarta, in Indonesia on Oct. 30, 2022, which has been prepared to welcome the upcoming G20 summit to be held in Bali.
Indonesia gathers the leaders of the world’s 20 largest economies in its island paradise of Bali for a two-day summit from Nov. 15-16 to discuss how they can cooperate on building a more stable future. But while this year’s summit has a post-pandemic theme of “Recover Together, Recover Stronger,” geopolitical divisions are taking center stage.
The summit’s chair, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, had hoped the gathering would provide an opportunity for some of the world’s biggest powers to set aside their differences in order to focus on addressing the pressing global challenges of COVID-19’s ongoing health risks, looming economic recession, and sustainable development. But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, along with the energy and food supply crises it exacerbated, has cast a shadow over the G20. As have rising tensions between China and the United States.
“The G20 is not meant to be a political forum,” said Jokowi, as the Indonesian leader is known. “It’s meant to be about economics and development.”
As part of a tour to drive the importance of attending the summit, Jokowi visited Moscow and Kyiv earlier this year. In the hope of fostering inclusive dialogue, he rejected pressure to exclude Russia from this year’s summit and extended an invitation to Volodomyr Zelensky, the President of non-member state Ukraine. But Zelensky announced that he would not attend the summit if Russia’s Vladimir Putin would be there, and other Western leaders balked at the idea of sharing a table with Putin. Last week, officials confirmed that Russia would send a foreign minister to Bali in Putin’s place; a Zelensky spokesperson said the Ukraine leader would likely attend virtually.
While much attention in the run-up was paid to whether Putin and Zelensky would show up, the in-person presence of U.S. President Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping also looks to eclipse the main event. The dueling superpower leaders will meet face-to-face for the first time in Biden’s presidency ahead of the summit on Monday. The meeting comes amid an increasingly strained relationship between the two governments over disagreements on trade policy, human rights, Ukraine, and Taiwan.