G20 Summit offers rare opportunity to defuse global tensions

The G20 Summit taking place in Bali this week is one of the most pivotal in the group’s 23-year history. Last week, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi warned that it is “among the or maybe the most difficult of all G20s because of geopolitical and economic issues, and others.”

Indonesian daily The Jakarta Post last week asked world leaders not to “come to Bali just to quarrel.” In an article written by its managing editor, the newspaper pleaded that “Indonesian people, and global citizens, hope the leaders (will) refrain from using the precious moments during the summit simply as opportunities to criticize and attack one another.”

To avoid having the summit derailed by the Ukraine war and big power tensions, Indonesian President Joko Widodo traveled to Russia and Ukraine and invited both to the meeting, offering his offices to defuse the tensions. President Vladimir Putin decided to skip the gathering, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed it remotely on Tuesday.

The Indonesian efforts are paying off, at least temporarily. It is a positive sign that Chinese leader Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden met on the margins of the summit in a first face-to-face meeting between the two leaders. Their meeting came just weeks after the Biden administration decided to block exports of advanced computer chips to China, marking a new low in their relations and signifying the increasingly heated competition to be the world’s leading technological and military power.

The early readouts from the Biden-Xi meeting showed that they agreed to maintain channels of communication between them, manage their competition and work together where their interests align. The US secretary of state is going to China early next year.

In a highly polarized world, the G20 remains one of the few places where countries of diverse political orientations can still engage. During the pandemic, it was one of the strongest voices to address the challenges of COVID-19, the economic slowdown and the pandemic-related breakdown in supply chains. During Saudi Arabia’s G20 presidency in 2020, it organized two summits that were quite effective, in which the great powers took part and collaborated.

The summit provides hope that world leaders might agree enough to advance the discussion on the key issues before them

Dr. Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg

But that was before the Ukraine war and heightened China-US tensions. It will be a tall order in this sharply divided environment to reach consensus on the summit outcomes, but it will be an even greater challenge to maintain that consensus to carry out its recommendations afterward.

The summit provides hope that world leaders might agree enough to advance the discussion on the key issues before them, including the looming risk of a global recession, lingering COVID-19 pandemic effects, rising inflation, and challenges to food and energy security.

The Bali meeting is taking place just as the COP27 climate conference closes in Egypt. This has been quite successful and it is hoped that the spirit of cooperation over climate change will carry over to the G20 meeting and beyond.

The G20 was created in 1999 to allow the world’s major economies to coordinate policies to tackle global economic issues. However, during times of high geopolitical tensions, it also takes on a political role and the bilateral meetings held on the margins of the summit are just as important as the formal agenda.

The chief political challenge these days is how to restore the rules-based international political and trading systems. Small and medium-sized countries, in particular, and private citizens everywhere need the multilateral institutions to avoid chaos and maintain safe and efficient supply lines.

There are several candidates and events to blame for the recent erosion in the role of international institutions, but the Ukraine war may be one of the most damaging to the rule of international law, which underpins the global order. But regardless of the origin of the disruption, it is important to reverse that corrosion, capitalizing on the fact that the major powers, including China and the US, have made firm verbal commitments to those systems, while disagreeing on who is at fault. The cordial atmospherics of the Biden-Xi meeting in Bali are a good start.

The current great power rivalry and trade wars have destabilized the international rules-based system and contributed to the global economic slowdown. They have harmed the interests of states and ordinary citizens in the form of food and energy shortages, as well as rising prices.

The thaw in Bali could be helpful, as the Chinese leader will visit Saudi Arabia next month to meet the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council and the Arab League. The GCC and like-minded nations and blocs need not take sides in great power rivalry, but could work with all sides to search for common ground, address their legitimate concerns and work to defuse new conflicts. The original Cold War, which lasted more than 40 years, was devastating to small countries, which frequently served as fodder for the great powers’ conflicts. Fortunately, this time around, there are international institutions, such as the G20, which serve as platforms for dialogue to address competing concerns.

It is also fortunate this time around that countries outside the great powers are not as weak and helpless as they were during the Cold War, and thus can do more.

The GCC, for example, is close to all of the great powers. The US has been a security and strategic ally for decades, as well as an economic and cultural partner. China is now the GCC’s top trading partner, with increasing political and security ties. Russia and the GCC have had a robust strategic dialogue since 2011 and coordinate closely on oil. The GCC is essential for the world order as a source of energy and a thriving market, which this year exceeds $2 trillion in the combined gross domestic product of its six member states.

In June, the GCC hosted meetings with both Russia and Ukraine, addressing the fallout from the war on food supply chains. In July, the Jeddah Security and Development Summit provided a forum for the US, GCC states and neighboring countries to coordinate their response to global challenges. The December summits between Chinese and GCC leaders in Riyadh will provide another opportunity.

The GCC states and other developing countries could help bridge the growing divide between the great powers and encourage a more cooperative approach, starting with the Bali summit.

• Dr. Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg is the GCC assistant secretary-general for political affairs and negotiation, and a columnist for Arab News. The views expressed in this piece are personal and do not necessarily represent GCC views. Twitter: @abuhamad1