G20 ministers meet in Bali with Ukraine high on the agenda

The Group of 20 is due to meet with the United States in Bali on Friday to urge the world’s leading economies to pressure Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, while Washington and Moscow’s top diplomats prepare for their first showdown since the beginning of the war prepare for war.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will also seek to resume dialogue with Beijing in talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, the first in months after tensions over issues including Taiwan.

But Blinken will avoid a direct meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, instead pointing the finger at Moscow for sparking global food and energy crises and urging G20 members to launch a UN initiative to reopen those deadlocked by the war to support sea routes.

“You will see that if necessary, we will be able to make clear Russia’s responsibility for some of the issues that the G20 will deal with,” a senior US official said Thursday.

The meeting is a prelude to the leaders’ summit on the Indonesian resort island in November, which was set to focus on the global recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.

But attention has shifted to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine after it rattled world markets, drove up food prices and led to allegations of Russian war crimes.

The meeting will put Blinken and Lavrov in each other’s crosshairs for the first time since the outbreak of war.

They last met in Geneva in January, where the top US diplomat warned Russia of massive consequences if it invaded Ukraine, which it did on February 24.

Host Indonesia has resisted pressure not to invite Russia, inviting Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dymytro Kuleba in virtual compromise, but the threat of a boycott hung over the proceedings.

The US State Department declined to comment on the “choreography” in Bali or whether Blinken would drop out of meetings Lavrov attended.

But there will be no family photo of the G20 ministers, as is customary, an Indonesian government official told AFP.

Blinken and Wang’s talks on Saturday – their first since October – will aim to address tensions between the world’s two largest economies.

A senior US official for East Asia said the pair will discuss “guard rails” for the competition, but Blinken – who recently identified Beijing as the greatest threat to world order – will also explore areas of cooperation.

The meeting comes as US President Joe Biden expresses hope for talks in the coming weeks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, with whom he last spoke in March.

US concerns over Taiwan have also grown, and Biden vowed to defend the island if China invades the self-governing democracy it considers its territory.

Lavrov met with Wang on Thursday to discuss Russia’s invasion, which Moscow says was launched to prevent Ukraine from joining the NATO military alliance.

Lavrov told Wang that Russia’s position on Ukraine was supported by “a growing number” of countries.

The US has condemned Beijing’s support for Russia, and Blinken is expected to repeat those warnings in talks with Wang.

But Blinken’s hopes of a Western united front against Moscow were dashed after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson resigned as leader of the Conservative Party on Thursday.

That prompted British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss to cut short her Bali trip and withdraw from Friday’s meeting, a diplomat told AFP, without specifying when she would be flying back to London.

She will be replaced by a senior British official at Friday’s talks, the diplomat said.