As the G20 Sherpas, the chief negotiators and their teams, moved from Manesar to New Delhi Friday for the last round of negotiations before the Leaders’ Summit starting Saturday, negotiators sensed a perceptible change in Beijing’s approach to many issues on the table, according to officials from Western countries and others in the grouping. This is significant since the G20 grouping faces the challenge of not reaching a consensus, given that the G7 countries are on one side and the Russia-China bloc is aligned on the other side. That could mean there is no joint communique at the end of the New Delhi summit — if that happens, it will be a first since the G20 Summits began in 2008. The Chinese negotiators, a diplomat from one of the G7 countries said, are playing a “constructive role” in many areas, especially those impacting the interests of the developing countries. “It is much better than expected, and while they are protecting their core interests, they have not been spoilers… They are engaging in a very rational manner,” a negotiator from another G7 country, said. In fact, the public statements from key representatives of the G20 countries do not point to any criticism of Beijing’s role. Charles Michel, President of the European Council, responding to a query on China’s role, did not criticise Beijing and said the EU expects “China to play a positive role”. He then recounted the meeting on Ukraine in Saudi Arabia recently where China was present. India’s G20 Sherpa, Amitabh Kant, on being asked about China’s role and whether it was being a spoiler, was also guarded. “China is a multilateral player… and in multilateral discussions, the issue is very different from bilateral issues. China is discussing issues of growth and development from their perspective.” This is very different from what US NSA Jake Sullivan told a press briefing two days ago when he said if China wanted to be a “spoiler” at the Summit, that option was available to it. Sources said that if the Chinese play ball, the Russians will be amenable to a compromise language – India has a few formulations in language, and did not want to put them forward before. “It was important to read the room in Jakarta,” the source said. Negotiators were keenly watching the negotiations at the East Asia Summit in Jakarta this week where South East Asian countries, India, US, Russia and China were among those present, and they were unable to come up with a joint communique. The Chair’s statement said “most members strongly condemn the aggression against Ukraine and underscore the need to reach a just, and lasting peace based on the principles of the United Nations Charter, including the territorial integrity, sovereignty, and political independence of Ukraine”. Negotiators said the Indian side did not put forward new formulations until the East Asia Summit because it was testing the temperature in Jakarta. India has a few formulations that might work as a compromise language between the Russia-China bloc and the G7 grouping. In fact, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had a quiet meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Jakarta on the sidelines. While the Russia-Ukraine war is threatening the Summit consensus, sour ces said they have achieved broad consensus on all major issues, and are hoping to wrap up more than 50 deliverables — of which 35 will be strong and actionable. The final document, sources said, will have no verbosity, and will be actionable and decisive. “It will be a people’s document, which can be easily understood,” one of the negotiators said. One of the issues being tackled in the G20 outcome document will be the definition and framework for Digital Public Infrastructure. “There hasn’t been any definition by any national government so far… only private sector consultants had so far come up with some definitions… The G20 countries, you will see, have arrived at a common agreed definition and a framework for the first time in the outcome document,” the diplomat said. Similarly, on gender-led development, there are Western narratives, the source said, and the G20 outcome document will have a “Southern touch” to it – referring to the Global South, and the “Global South approach”. Sources said that they are also working on deliverables on Artificial Intelligence and use of technology, multilateral development bank reform, on debt relief, in the final document. “There is an agreement on most of these areas, and nobody is holding out majorly, except for the climate change paragraphs… But we hope to wrap up the outcome document by Sunday morning,” the negotiator said.
