Dear Reader,
India’s international profile has been raised by its successful presidency of the G20 summit. The New Delhi declaration was released on Saturday itself, a day before the summit ended, with consensus achieved behind closed doors on its wording. The phrasing of the international community’s criticism or concern had to be balanced by countries allied to Russia’s interests, which includes India. This delicate balancing act of penmanship was handled by mentioning Ukraine four times in the declaration, but by calling it ‘the war in Ukraine’ instead of ‘against Ukraine’ to obtain a consensus.
In a way, it was a nod to the realities of diplomacy, with a G20 declaration strengthening the grouping’s relevance on the global stage. The memory of China’s successful push in enlarging the BRICS grouping may have been fresh in their memory. That this consensus took place on Indian soil has boosted the Narendra Modi-led government’s international profile, in successfully conducting and concluding its presidency.
It has also positioned India as a successful counter to China’s attempt to grow its influence in the Global South. Abhijit Dutta writes about how India’s success could dent China’s clout as a global shuffle of loyalties and priorities amid conflicts are seeing countries and even groupings shift allegiances, even if subtly. Do read his analysis to know more.
But the G20 summit was also about showcasing India’s closeness to the US. As my colleague Manas Chakravarty wrote in the Weekender column, “Indeed, India’s interests may best be served by acting, not as a bridge between the West and the East, but between the West and the Global South. And it’s not just a question of interests — as Union Minister Piyush Goyal said, our hearts are with America. Many of us have family and friends in the West, we share a democratic tradition, and we are familiar with the English language and literature. If the government invites the members of the Quad to the next Republic Day parade, as a report says it is thinking of doing, it will put us firmly in the American camp. That is where we belong.”
One of the tangible outcomes of the G20 meeting was the announcement of an India, Middle East, and Europe Economic Corridor, in what seems like a counter to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). In The Eastern Window, Saibal Dasgupta writes about the implications of this new project, what the US and EU may be seeking to achieve, the practical difficulties of implementing the project and whether this marks India’s acceptance into a hallowed club that could eventually grant it the much-coveted candidacy of the UN Security Council. Do read to know more.
Last, on China, today’s FT selection is a column by Ruchir Sharma, who asks if we have reached peak pessimism over China. A keen watcher of emerging markets, he wonders if the market is missing some near term scenarios, one of which could be a stimulus that fuels the economy to keep growing in the near term, and another in which the property market crisis blows up in its face. He argues that the consensus is for a ‘muddling scenario’, but it’s likely to be more ‘dramatic’ than that. Don’t miss reading it.
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