'Spoiler' Of G20 Summit, Biden Looks To Fill Hole Left By Putin And Xi: How World Viewed India's G20

World leaders on Saturday descended at the Bharat Mandapam where they received a warm welcome by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the first day of the 18th G20 Summit

Prime Minister Narendra Modi makes remarks at the Session-1 on 'One Earth' during the G20 Summit 2023 ( Image Source :PTI )

India has been the centre point of the editorials for the major international media as it hosts the 18th Summit of the Group of Twenty (G20) comprising the developed and emerging economies of the world. While Chinese President Xi Jinping giving the meeting a miss has been particularly the point of interest for US-based CNN, the UK-based The Guardian called Biden for his effort to “woo India’s Modi”. World leaders on Saturday descended at the Bharat Mandapam where they received a warm welcome by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

Chinese daily, Global Times took a pot shot at Washington for urging Beijing not to "play the role of spoiler.” 

Who Is The ‘Spoiler’ Of The G20 Summit In New Delhi?: Global Times 

Stating that India “wants to focus the discussion on economic recovery and multilateral diplomacy”, the Chinese daily targeted the US and the West for trying to “promote their own agenda” and “dividing the Global North and South as well as inciting confrontation between West and East.” The publication further said that the West “have shown a tendency of wanting to tear the G20 apart since last year's summit in Bali, Indonesia. This year, they have intensified their efforts to castrate the G20.” 

“Before the summit, Washington inexplicably issued a "warning" to China, urging it not to "play the role of spoiler" at the G20 summit. In this regard, we would like to say that these words are quite accurate if we swap China with the US,” the editorial stated. 

Biden Renews Effort To Woo India’s Modi: The Guardian

The UK-based daily said that Biden grabbed the opportunity to renew his efforts to “woo” PM Modi “into an alliance designed to contain China, at a bilateral meeting in Delhi.” "The meeting was given an added symbolic importance as Biden was able to seize upon the Chinese president Xi Jinping’s decision not to attend Modi’s much-vaunted summit. The US is trying gradually to make the traditionally neutral India a more explicit partner and part of a wider political and defence alliance in the Indo-Pacific," Patrick Wintour wrote for the UK daily. 

Xi Prioritising Forums Fitting Into's China's Vision: CNN

Again focusing on Xi skipping the meeting, US-based CNN speculated that China might be “prioritising multilateral forums that fit into China’s own vision for how the world should be governed” such as recently-concluded BRICS and the upcoming Belt and Road Forum. 

“There may be an element of a deliberate snub to India, but it could also be a statement that there are different governance structures Xi Jinping thinks are important – and the G20 may not be one of them,” it quoted George Magnus, an economist and associate at the China Center at Oxford University, as saying.

“(Xi) may have wanted to make an example of the Indian G20 and said, ‘this is not something that I’m gonna go to because I’ve got bigger fish to fry."

Biden Looks to Fill a Hole Left by Putin and Xi: The New York Times

US-daily The New York Times stated that the absence of Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin will give Biden “a room to present a case to a large group of important world leaders that they should align with the United States on matters that include condemning Russia’s war in Ukraine and curbing China’s increasing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific.”

“The president plans to use the trip to shore up his relationship with the G20 host, Mr. Modi, who is using the economic-focused meeting to showcase the promise and potential of a juggernaut Indian economy.” 

Commenting on the Centre’s preparation for the summit, the US daily stated, “Mr. Modi is so intent on a successful event that his government declared a three-day national holiday surrounding the meeting, closing many businesses and restaurants and increasing security throughout the capital.”