A day after Xi Jinping decided to skip the G20 Summit in Delhi, Jake Sullivan, US President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, said that China has the option to “come in and play the role of a spoiler” at G20, but India, the US, and all other members of the G20 would encourage China to “set aside geopolitical questions” and play a constructive role on a range of pressing international issues. Sullivan made the comment in response to a question on whether tensions between India and China may affect the outcome at G20. Sullivan was addressing a press briefing at the White House where he previewed the President’s upcoming visit to India. Biden is scheduled to land in Delhi and hold a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 8. He will then attend the G20 Summit over the weekend before heading to Vietnam.
Speaking about the other contentious issue that has engulfed the G20, Sullivan said that getting an “absolute consensus on Ukraine” at G20 was a challenge, and he did not expect Russia, which will be represented by foreign minister Sergey Lavrov at the Summit, to change its position. But, Sullivan added, most members of both the United Nations as well as G20 opposed Russia’s “illegal invasion” of Ukraine. He added that Biden will speak out against Russia’s war which has had “devastating consequences” and will seek “just and durable peace” in line with the UN charter, international law, and principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity. Moscow and Beijing have opposed even including the language agreed upon during the last summit at Bali on Ukraine, jeopardising the prospect of a joint communique. When asked about India’s position on the war, Sullivan said that India had signed on to the statement. In his opening remarks at the briefing, Sullivan said that the US was deeply committed to the G20 as a forum to deliver meaningful outcomes at a time of historic international economic shocks. Linking the American agenda at the Summit with Biden’s domestic economic policy of greater investments at home, the NSA said that the US will push forward an ambitious agenda of reform of multilateral development banks, particularly the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, and the quest to make it “bigger and better”. In this regard, he pointed out that the US administration had asked the US Congress for additional funding to the Bank. Sullivan added that the US was looking forward to welcoming African Union (AU) as the newest permanent member of the bloc, an indication that the proposal to add AU is likely to get through. India has championed the cause of including AU in G20 as a sign of its commitment to the global south and making the international governance architecture more inclusive and representative. Among other issues to be discussed at G20, Sullivan flagged climate, health, digital transformation, responsible development of artificial intelligence.