Stalemate as China seeks to soften G20 statement on Ukraine war

G20 finance ministers struggled on Saturday to agree a joint closing statement after their talks in India, with China seeking to water down any reference to the Ukraine war, according to officials.

G20 Finance Ministers, Central Bank Governors and other delegates at the meeting on the outskirts of Bengaluru, India, 24 February 2023. via REUTERS - PRESS INFORMATION BUREAU

Agreement on a closing statement to the G20 finance ministers' meeting was proving difficult, because of the "less constructive" approaches of some unspecified countries.

China wants to change the language of a G20 leaders' statement from November that says that "most members strongly condemned the war" in Ukraine, according to officials.

One delegate said that China wanted to remove the word "war". 

Others said a joint statement is now unlikely, repeating the scenario at several other such gatherings since Russia's invasion of Ukraine a year ago.

The G20 negotiations continued until early on Saturday morning.

China and current G20 president India have refused to condemn Russia, which is New Delhi's biggest arms supplier and has become a major source of oil for India since the invasion.

Western countries are insisting that the language at this ministerial level meeting cannot be weaker than the communique issued by G20 leaders in Indonesia in November.

Debt relief, anyone?

The two-day event also focused on debt relief for poorer countries hit by rocketing inflation because of the war.

The International Monetary Fund said ahead of the meeting that around 15 percent of low-income countries were in debt distress and an additional 45 percent were at high risk.

Western officials including US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called on China to take "a haircut" on its loans to debt-stricken nations such as Zambia and Sri Lanka.

China wants multilateral lenders including the World Bank -- which Beijing sees as Western-controlled -- to restructure their own loans, but the United States and others oppose this.

Other topics at the finance ministers' meeting included efforts towards a global tax on tech giants and widening the remit of multilateral development banks such as the World Bank to help nations hit by climate change.