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With the foreign ministers of the Group of 20 leading economies meeting Thursday in New Delhi, host India is promoting itself as a rising superpower while leveraging its position on the global stage to bridge the gap between the West and Russia.
Experts expect India to be at the center of bitter global divisions, particularly over Russia’s war in Ukraine. But it’s also an opportunity for the South Asian nation to position itself as the voice of the Global South and as a potential mediator between the West and Moscow.
India is expected to adopt a neutral stance on Ukraine, as it has in the past. The event is likely to be overshadowed by the war in Europe and its impact on global energy and food security. However, senior foreign ministry officials said Wednesday that India was determined to focus on “equally important” issues of rising inflation, debt stress, health, climate change and food and energy security in developing nations.
“I really do believe that India stands the best chance of all countries to try to hold peace negotiations between Russia and not just the U.S., but the West, actually,” said Derek Grossman, an analyst focused on the Indo-Pacific at the RAND Corporation.
He credited India’s non-alignment and its rise as a global power for why it could be a potential peacemaker.
But the South Asian country has its own challenges, particularly with regional rival China. Tensions between New Delhi and Beijing remain high after a deadly border clash in 2020.
On Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said the country’s foreign minister would be attending the G-20 meeting, and that “China attaches great importance with India.
