Leading presidents and prime ministers from around the world are meeting for the annual G20 leaders’ summit in India’s capital, Delhi, from 9-10 September.

Narendra Modi is an authoritarian figure who, as India’s prime minister since 2014, has pushed his country into increasingly becoming a “de facto ethnic democracy”, in which Hindus define the national identity and non-Hindus are seen as second-class citizens. Yet as the host of the upcoming talks of the world’s 20 largest economies, Mr Modi will be feted by major global leaders – except his absent fellow strongmen Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin.

Mr Modi’s dangerous majoritarianism is too easily overlooked by the west, as the G20 glad-handing will show. India had been considered an exemplary liberal parliamentary democracy among developing countries. This is being slowly dismantled by Mr Modi’s brand of Hindu nationalism. State intimidation has seen civil society harassed and critics jailed. A report by a group of prominent lawyers last year warned that “the administration of law has become the means by which … the Muslim community can be kept in a state of perpetual fear”. Since May, the north-eastern Indian state of Manipur has been burning, with its valley Hindus and highland Christians sinking into bloody fighting. Mr Modi’s party blames non-Hindus for the violence.

The Indian prime minister shares the ideological viewpoint of Donald Trump, Marine Le Pen in France and Hungary’s Viktor Orbán. Mr Modi claims India suffered 1,000 years of servitude: 750 years of Muslim rule, plus 250 years of British rule. Pulling down, or discarding, symbols of that history – mosques, mausoleums, Lutyens’ Delhi buildings – is excused, in this thinking, because this represents a national, Hindu resurgence. Mr Modi tellingly speaks of 1,000 years of rule to come.

The west thinks that it must keep stumm because it needs India to contain China. But at what cost to democracy and human rights? Mukul Kesavan, an Indian historian, wrote earlier this year that when the White House rolled out the red carpet for Mr Modi, “One of the more entertaining things about [his] visit has been the sight of [Joe] Biden welcoming a foreign leader who had openly campaigned for his predecessor and liberal bête noire, Donald Trump.”

Last year, Gothenburg University’s annual report on the state of global democracy warned of a wave of “autocratization” spreading around the world. Since 2020, the report said, India has not been a working democracy but an “electoral autocracy” similar to that in Russia. All is not lost. India’s next general election will provide a chance for the public to have its say – though how much remains to be seen, given that a peer-reviewed paper suggested that in 2019 Mr Modi won around 11 seats by suppressing the Muslim vote. Its author, a respected economist, quit after his university failed to back him. The arrival of the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, otherwise known as INDIA, has also unsettled Mr Modi. Perhaps peeved at being opposed by “INDIA”, Mr Modi wants to respond only to the country’s Sanskrit name “Bharat”.

India’s prime minister says the G20 should let the global south shape the world’s future. As Human Rights Watch pointed out this week, “many proposed summit topics – debt crises, social protection programs, food security, climate change, internet freedom – are at their root about human rights”. Britain has its own share of democratic backsliding. But if Mr Modi desires successful outcomes then he, like all autocratic leaders, should understand why his actions at home undermine the arguments he wants to promote abroad.

Western democracies are wrong to overlook a country’s descent into electoral autocracy because they believe they need it to contain China

What is the G20?

The G20 – or Group of Twenty – is a club of countries which meets to discuss plans for the global economy.

Between them, G20 countries account for 85% of the world’s economic output and 75% of world trade. They contain two-thirds of the global population.

The members are the European Union and 19 nations – Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the UK and the US. Spain is always invited as a guest.

A smaller group of G20 member countries meets as the G7.

Some of the G20 member nations – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – have formed a separate group called Brics.

This is due to expand, having invited six other nations to join at its recent summit: Argentina, Egypt, Iran, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

What does the group discuss?

The issues discussed by G20 leaders have broadened in recent years from just economics to include issues such as climate change, sustainable energy, international-debt forgiveness and taxing multinational corporations.

Every year, a different G20 member state takes over the presidency and sets the agenda for meetings.

Indonesia held the presidency in 2022, and the leaders’ summit was held in Bali.

As 2023 president, India wants the Delhi event to concentrate on sustainable development, as well as measures to spread economic growth more evenly between developed and developing countries.

The summit also provides an opportunity for one-to-one discussions to take place alongside group sessions.

The White House says that US President Joe Biden will talk to individual leaders about tackling climate change, Russia’s war in Ukraine, and getting global organisations such as the World Bank to do more to fight poverty.

However, the Kremlin says Russia’s President Vladimir Putin will not be attending the summit, and it’s been widely reported that China’s President Xi Jinping will also stay away.

Are there any controversial issues for G20 countries?

Russia’s war in Ukraine is likely to cause discord at the Delhi summit.

In March 2022, the G20 foreign ministers were unable to reach agreements at their meeting because of fierce arguments over the war between the US and Russia delegations.

At the Bali leaders’ summit in November 2022, discussions were dominated by a crisis involving missiles from the war falling on Poland’s side of the border with Ukraine.

In May, China and Saudi Arabia boycotted a G20 meeting on tourism which was held in Indian-administered Kashmir because the Kashmir region contains territory claimed by Pakistan as well as India.

A row has also broken out between India and China over a long-running border dispute, after Beijing released a map which claims the state of Arunachal Pradesh and the Aksai Chin plateau as Chinese territory.

What does the summit mean for India?

India has been positioning itself as a leading voice of developing countries known as the Global South in recent years and G20 is seen as its chance to deliver on these promises on a bigger stage.

The summit also comes ahead of the 2024 general elections in India and could bolster Mr Modi’s image as a leader who commands respect on the global stage.

The government has held hundreds of meeting across some 50 cities in the run-up to the summit in Delhi.

For months, cities and towns have been dotted with shiny billboards featuring the G20 logo and Mr Modi’s photos, framing the event as the prime minister’s earnest attempt to bring the world to India.

Mr Modi also appears to share a personal rapport with many of his G20 counterparts, including President Biden who accorded him a coveted state visit in June.

That said, the summit is not expected to be a breeze for India, given the current complex geopolitical situation.

Many economies are still struggling to recover from the pandemic and have grown increasingly anxious about the war and its economic impact, with global surges in food and energy prices.

Why is there a ‘family photo’?

At the end of key summits, the heads of government often pose for a group photograph, known as the « family photo ».

However, the diplomatic discord revealed by the image sometimes makes headlines in its own right.

In 2018, following the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was largely ignored, and made to stand at the far end of the group.

What has the G20 achieved?

At the 2008 and 2009 leaders’ summits, during the financial crisis, leaders agreed a host of measures to rescue the global economic system.

But some critics argue that subsequent summits have been less successful, often as a result of tensions between rival world powers.

However, bilateral meetings at the summit have often proved constructive.

In 2019, at Osaka, then-US president Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to resume talks to settle a major trade dispute.

Do G20 summits attract protests?

Big demonstrations often take place around the leaders’ summits.

Anti-capitalist protesters demonstrated at the 2010 summit in Toronto and the 2017 summit in Hamburg.

Thousands of demonstrators marched during the 2018 summit in Rio de Janeiro to protest against the G20’s economic policies.

In 2009 Ian Tomlinson, a newspaper seller, died after he was caught up in protests during the G20 summit in London.

World Opinions +The Guarasidian + BBC NEWS + Agencies

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China’s Xi Jinping has been filmed accusing Justin Trudeau of leaking meeting details, days after they held talks at the G20 summit in Bali.

President Xi told the Canadian PM, via a translator, this was inappropriate and accused him of lacking « sincerity ».

He was likely referring to reports that Mr Trudeau discussed alleged Chinese espionage and interference in Canadian elections at the sit down.

The talks, which happened behind closed doors, were the pair’s first in years.

In the footage, filmed by journalists at the now finished gathering of world leaders, President Xi and Mr Trudeau can be seen standing close to each other and conversing via a translator.

« Everything we discussed has been leaked to the papers and that is not appropriate, » the Chinese leader told Mr Trudeau in Mandarin.

It captures a rare candid moment of President Xi, whose image is normally carefully curated by Chinese state media.

After smiling and nodding his head, the Canadian PM responded by saying « in Canada we believe in free and open and frank dialogue and that is what we will continue to have ».

« We will continue to look to work constructively together but there will be things we disagree on, » he added.

Before Mr Trudeau could finish, President Xi cut his counterpart off and asked that he first « create the conditions » – eventually shaking Trudeau’s hand and walking away.

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson played down the incident, describing it as a normal exchange that should not be interpreted as criticising or blaming anyone.

The spokesperson, Mao Ning, added that Beijing supported having frank exchanges as long as they were held on an equal basis.

The short but revealing exchange highlighted tensions between China and Canada, running high since the detention of Huawei Technologies executive Meng Wanzhou in 2018 and Beijing’s subsequent arrest of two Canadians on spying charges. All three were later released.

But tensions recently resurged following the arrest of Yuesheng Wang, a public utility worker at Hydro-Quebec, who was charged with espionage.

Mr Wang « obtained trade secrets to benefit the People’s Republic of China, to the detriment of Canada’s economic interests, » Canadian police said in a statement.

At the time, Mr Trudeau and President Xi were at the G20 summit on the Indonesian island of Bali.

World Opinions – BBC News

L’article Analysis. G20: Xi accuses Trudeau of leaks to media about China-Canada relations est apparu en premier sur World Opinion | Alternative Média.

La Pologne, membre de l’Otan, a confirmé dans la nuit de mardi à mercredi qu’un projectile « très probablement de fabrication russe » avait atteint son territoire, faisant deux morts. Le président polonais a précisé ne pas disposer à ce stade de « preuve univoque » sur le lanceur du missile. La France et la Chine ont appelé à la « prudence » et au « calme ».

Le général Mark Milley a estimé peu probable, du moins à court terme, que l’Ukraine puisse déloger militairement la Russie de l’ensemble des territoires qu’elle occupe dans le pays, y compris la Crimée.

« La probabilité d’une victoire militaire ukrainienne, expulsant les Russes de tout l’Ukraine y compris (…) la Crimée, la probabilité que cela se passe de sitôt n’est pas très élevée militairement », a-t-il déclaré lors d’une conférence de presse.

Le chef d’état-major américain a par ailleurs jugé que les frappes de missiles russes ayant visé la veille les infrastructures d’énergie civile en Ukraine constituaient un « crime de guerre ».

S’exprimant lors d’une conférence de presse, le plus haut gradé des États-Unis a estimé que la Russie avait échoué sur tous les fronts dans sa guerre contre l’Ukraine, et y menait par conséquent une « campagne de terreur ».

Zelensky appelle la Chine « à ne pas choisir le côté de la Russie »

« Il est important pour nous que la Chine ne choisisse pas le camp de la Russie », a déclaré Volodymyr Zelensky à la télévision ukrainienne, alors que Pékin a refusé de condamner l’invasion russe de l’Ukraine et rejette les sanctions occidentales contre Moscou.

La Hongrie critique les propos de Zelensky

Le gouvernement hongrois a estimé que le président ukrainien Volodymyr Zelensky donnait « un mauvais exemple » en affirmant que le missile ayant tué deux personnes dans un village polonais près de la frontière avec l’Ukraine était russe. 

« Dans une telle situation, les dirigeants mondiaux s’expriment de manière responsable », a déclaré à la presse Gergely Gulyas, chef de cabinet du Premier ministre Viktor Orban. Or « le président ukrainien, en accusant immédiatement les Russes, a eu tort, c’est un mauvais exemple », a-t-il ajouté, saluant au contraire l’attitude prudente de la Pologne et des États-Unis.

World Opinions – Agences

L’article  L’explosion en Pologne « vraisemblablement due à un missile ukrainien », selon Stoltenberg est apparu en premier sur World Opinion | Alternative Média.

China foreign ministry says US is ‘biggest threat to world peace, stability and development’ after spying accusations.

China has accused the United States of being “the biggest threat to world peace, stability and development”, in response to accusations by the heads of security services in Washington and London that Chinese spying is a global threat and China is threatening international order.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian’s comments on Thursday came a day after the head of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the leader of Britain’s domestic intelligence agency, MI5, raised fresh alarms about the Chinese government, warning business leaders that Beijing is determined to steal their technology for competitive gain.

The heightened tone from Beijing also comes ahead of a meeting on Saturday between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the Group of 20 (G20) leading rich and developing nations’ ministers summit in Bali, Indonesia.

“The relevant US politician has been playing up the so-called China threat to smear and attack China,” Zhao told reporters at a daily briefing when asked about FBI Director Christopher Wray’s comments denouncing economic espionage and hacking operations by China and the Chinese government’s efforts to stifle dissent abroad.

“Facts have fully proven that the US is the biggest threat to world peace, stability and development,” Zhao said.

“We urge this US official to have the right perspective, see China’s developments in an objective and reasonable manner and stop spreading lies and stop making irresponsible remarks,” he said.

‘Covert pressure across the globe’

Wray’s speech was particularly notable because it took place at MI5’s London headquarters and alongside the British agency’s director-general, Ken McCallum, in an intended show of Western solidarity.

“We consistently see that it’s the Chinese government that poses the biggest long-term threat to our economic and national security, and by ‘our,’ I mean both of our nations, along with our allies in Europe and elsewhere,” Wray told attendees on Wednesday at the meeting of business leaders and officials.

MI5’s McCallum said the Chinese government and its “covert pressure across the globe” amounts to “the most game-changing challenge we face”.

In his response, Zhao said British intelligence was “simply projecting their own dishonourable behaviour onto China”.

“The head of the British intelligence service should cast away [his] evil in mind, come out of the dark room and see the sunshine, and not always hold on to the zero-sum thinking or set up so-called imaginary enemies,” he said.

Zhao on Wednesday slammed Blinken’s comments at last week’s NATO summit in Spain, in which the US secretary of state accused China of “seeking to undermine the rules-based international order”.

Under President Xi Jinping, head of the ruling Communist Party, China has assumed an increasingly aggressive foreign policy, joining with Russia in seeking to undermine the influence of the US and its allies.

Beijing has refused to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – which is expected to dominate the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting – while condemning Western sanctions against Moscow and accusing Washington and NATO of provoking the conflict.

World Opinions – Aljazeera – Agencies

L’article Debate. China blasts US, British intelligence services over spying claims est apparu en premier sur World Opinion | Alternative Média.

L’économie chinoise a crû de 2,3% en 2020, selon les données publiées lundi par le Bureau national de la statistique. Au moment où les grandes puissances voient avec inquiétude leur économie se contracter dans le sillage du Covid, la Chine fait bande à part. Il s’agit vraisemblablement du seul pays du G20 à avoir connu la croissance l’an dernier, selon les projections de l’OCDE.

Une performance qu’il convient de souligner compte tenu de la remontée spectaculaire de l’économie chinoise ces derniers mois. Dynamisée par la demande étrangère, cette reprise a cependant accentué certains déséquilibres.

La Chine a beau enregistrer sa pire croissance économique depuis 1976, au sortir de la Révolution Culturelle, sa progression en 2020 est un soulagement. Car le pays revient de loin.

En mars, Pékin pansait ses plaies: l’épidémie de coronavirus et les mesures drastiques mises en place par les autorités pour en contenir la propagation avaient débouché sur une contraction historique de -6,8% au premier trimestre.

Cet effondrement avait alors suscité l’inquiétude des dirigeants de la deuxième économie mondiale déjà victime d’un ralentissement prononcé. Après des années d’une croissance stratosphérique à deux chiffres, les autorités tentent de négocier un atterrissage en douceur. D’où la nécessité de stabiliser la chute pour reprendre rapidement de l’altitude.

Investissements, prêts et baisses fiscales

Le virus sous contrôle dès le printemps, Pékin a pu remettre la machine en branle. Investissements dans les infrastructures et l’immobilier, octroi de prêts facilités aux entreprises, baisses fiscales: l’Etat a largement piloté la reprise en cumulant les mesures d’incitation pour stimuler l’appareil de production.

Paradoxalement, la globalisation de l’épidémie, devenue entre-temps pandémie, a contribué à renforcer l’économie chinoise via les exportations, véritable locomotive de la croissance l’an dernier. Profitant de la paralysie du reste du monde, le secteur a capté une grande partie des commandes internationales.

Rapidement déchargées des mesures anti-Covid, les usines chinoises ont pu retrouver leur rythme de croisière. Elles ont vite fait face à une demande importante en matériel médical, en produits électroniques et autres biens d’aménagement d’intérieur issue d’économies en proie aux restrictions sanitaires – travail à domicile, couvre-feux, quarantaines…

Renforcement régulier de la croissance

Munies de ces béquilles, la croissance s’est donc renforcée de manière régulière. Les trois derniers mois de l’année, l’économie chinoise a crû de 6,5%. Un résultat insolent en comparaison des autres grandes économies de la planète. La tendance devrait se poursuivre: le dynamisme des exportations et le développement continu d’infrastructures continuera de tirer la croissance, selon l’Académie chinoise des sciences sociales.

Cette dernière prédisait la semaine dernière une expansion économique de 7,8% en 2021. Un taux qui, s’il devait se confirmer, serait le plus élevé des neuf dernières années.

La consommation domestique en berne

Reste une ombre au tableau: la consommation. Si les Chinois se sont peu à peu remis à dépenser – la classe moyenne-supérieure en particulier – la majorité de la population se montre prudente.

Malgré une légère reprise, la consommation domestique s’est contractée de -3,9% en 2020. La faible augmentation des salaires, la reprise difficile du secteur des services – fortement impacté par les fermetures et les restrictions de voyage – fait de nombreuses victimes. Les employés des classes plus modestes, majoritaires en Chine, sont inquiets. Signe de cette anxiété, le taux d’épargne a augmenté l’an dernier.

Déséquilibre accru

L’écart entre la consommation domestique et la croissance du PIB souligne et accentue un vieux déséquilibre du système chinois. L’économie reste en effet fondamentalement tirée par l’offre, la demande continuant à faire défaut. Un défi à long terme pour les autorités qui espèrent stimuler la croissance domestique afin de profiter de l’énorme potentiel de leur marché intérieur. Un marché que Pékin veut développer davantage afin de réduire sa dépendance à l’étranger.

Par Michael Peuker – RTS Eco

L’article La Chine, seul pays du G20 à avoir connu la croissance en 2020 est apparu en premier sur World Opinion | Alternative Média.

La rencontre aura lieu, sans surprise, sous un format virtuel à cause de l’épidémie de coronavirus. Les dirigeants mondiaux du « groupe des vingt » se réuniront samedi et dimanche sous l’égide de l’Arabie saoudite, premier pays arabe à organiser cette grand-messe économique. Avec un objectif : amortir le crash causé par la pandémie partout dans le monde. « L’économie mondiale est à un tournant critique », a prévenu Kristalina Georgieva, la patronne du Fonds monétaire international.

Les apartés, souvent les plus fructueux

Malgré des enjeux cruciaux, c’est pourtant un G20 a minima qui se tiendra cette année. A la fois parce que les chefs d’Etat et de gouvernement seront privés des rencontres physiques et des apartés qui en découlent, souvent les plus fructueux.

Mais aussi parce que l’Arabie saoudite, sous le feu des critiques pour ses atteintes répétées aux droits humains, est dans le viseur des ONG. Celles-ci appellent depuis des semaines les participants à boycotter le sommet ou à faire pression sur le gouvernement saoudien pour libérer les prisonniers d’opinion – bouleversant de fait les sujets au menu des discussions et les plans de Riyad, qui comptait sur ce rendez-vous pour redorer son blason.

Un manque de 4,5 milliards

A la veille du sommet, plusieurs dirigeants – la Première ministre norvégienne Erna Solberg, le président sud-africain Cyril Ramaphosa, le directeur de l’OMS Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus et la présidente de la Commission européenne Ursula von der Leyen – ont adressé un courrier au roi Salmane d’Arabie saoudite, président du G20 cette année. Ils estiment que les pays du G20 doivent aider à combler un manque de 4,5 milliards de dollars dans le fonds (ACT-Accelerator) de l’Organisation mondiale de la Santé (OMS) pour notamment distribuer des vaccins contre le coronavirus. L’ACT-Accelerator est un dispositif de coopération internationale mis en place sous l’égide de l’OMS pour s’assurer que les pays développés ne monopoliseront pas les traitements, les tests et les vaccins contre le coronavirus.

Vendredi, lors d’une conférence de presse, la présidente de la Commission européenne, Ursula von der Leyen, a aussi dit espérer un nouvel engagement des Etats-Unis en faveur du multilatéralisme, notamment contre la pandémie et dans la lutte contre le réchauffement climatique, avec le président élu Joe Biden.

World Opinions

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