![\"Ukraine](\"https:\/\/c.ndtvimg.com\/2023-03\/9l92ojn8_g20-generic_625x300_01_March_23.jpg\"\/ "\\"Ukraine")
<\/div>\nG20 Meeting: A meeting between China and US on the sidelines of the G20 gathering is also unlikely.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
New Delhi: <\/b><\/p>\n
Top US diplomat Antony Blinken was due in New Delhi on Wednesday alongside Russia’s Sergei Lavrov for a G20 meeting, with Ukraine and tensions with China set to overshadow attempts by host India to forge unity among the world’s top economies.<\/p>\n
A meeting was seen as unlikely between the two men, who have not been in the same room since a G20 meeting in Bali in July when, according to Western officials, the Russian foreign minister walked out.<\/p>\n
They last met individually in January 2022, weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine. The two men have spoken by phone since but about other issues and not the war.<\/p>\n
Lavrov arrived late Tuesday in India — which has not condemned the war — and will use his G20 attendance to lay into the West, according to the Russian foreign ministry.<\/p>\n
Western countries want to “take revenge for the inevitable disappearance of the levers of dominance from its hands,” the ministry’s English-language statement said.<\/p>\n
“The destructive policy of the US and its allies has already put the world on the brink of a disaster, provoked a rollback in socio-economic development and seriously aggravated the situation of the poorest countries,” it added.<\/p>\n
‘Spy balloon’<\/strong><\/p>\n Similarly in doubt on the sidelines of the two-day G20 gathering in New Delhi was a meeting between Blinken and his Chinese counterpart Qin Gang.<\/p>\n Blinken had a fiery encounter with top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi last month in Germany after the US shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon over its east coast on February 4.<\/p>\n The incident led Blinken to nix a rare trip to China, slamming the “unacceptable violation of US sovereignty and international law” which “must never again occur,” the State Department said.<\/p>\n Beijing, which has also been angered by Washington’s stance on Taiwan, denies it uses spy balloons and says the craft was for weather research.<\/p>\n Wang “urged the US side to change course, acknowledge and repair the damage that its excessive use of force caused to China-US relations,” state news agency Xinhua reported.<\/p>\n ‘Material support’<\/strong><\/p>\n Blinken also warned Wang against providing “material support” to Russia’s faltering war effort, as is speculated in Washington. Beijing denies any such intention.<\/p>\n State news agency Xinhua quoted Wang last week as saying China was willing to “strengthen strategic coordination” with Russia after meeting Lavrov and President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.<\/p>\n Blinken was also expected to meet on Friday his counterparts from the Quad group — Japan, Australia and India — that is seen as a bulwark against China in the Asia-Pacific region.<\/p>\n Awkward hosts<\/strong><\/p>\n The Group of Twenty comprises 19 countries and the European Union, representing around 85 percent of the world’s economy and two-thirds of its population.<\/p>\n India wants its G20 presidency this year to focus on issues like alleviating poverty and climate finance, but the Ukraine war and its effects are set to dominate the agenda.<\/p>\n Last week a meeting of G20 finance ministers in Bengaluru failed to agree on a common statement after Russia and China sought to water down language on the Ukraine war.<\/p>\n Hosting the G20 puts India in a tricky position, because while it shares Western concerns about China it is also a major buyer of Russian arms and has ramped up oil imports.<\/p>\n India has not condemned the invasion, although Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Putin last year that this was “not a time for war” in comments seen as a rebuke to Moscow.<\/p>\n German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Saturday on a visit to India that he did not believe that Modi’s government “is under any illusions that this is an offensive war started by Russia in order to acquire a part of its neighbour’s territory.”<\/p>\n (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)<\/i><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\nFeatured Video Of The Day<\/h3>\n