TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
For Indonesia, a G20 summit dogged by Russia-Ukraine tension
Indonesia, the world's fourth-most populous country and Southeast Asia's largest economy, assumed the chair of the G20 in December with plans to focus on recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and boosting the interests of developing nations.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
US President Joe Biden (left) talks with President Joko Widodo as he arrives for the G20 leaders' summit in Nusa Dua, Bali on November 15, 2022.
(AFP/Kevin Lamarque)
Group of 20 leaders meet on Tuesday under very different circumstances than those host Indonesia envisioned when it began planning the summit last year, with Russia's invasion of Ukraine hanging over proceedings even in the absence of Russia's leader.
Indonesia, the world's fourth-most populous country and Southeast Asia's largest economy, assumed the chair of the G20 in December with plans to focus on recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and boosting the interests of developing nations.
Instead, Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February threw the word into turmoil and threw Indonesia's preparations for the summit out of kilter, forcing it into a high-stakes struggle to manage divergent demands and ensure the summit on the island of Bali takes place.
"Just keeping the meeting together is already a big achievement," said Jose Rizal, executive director of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Jakarta.
Russia's Feb. 24 invasion of its southern neighbour sparked calls by some Western leaders for a boycott of the G20 summit and for the withdrawal of Russian President Vladimir Putin's invitation.
But Indonesia, closely associated from the 1950s with the formation of the non-aligned movement, has instead focused on its "bebas dan aktif", or "free and active" foreign policy, a position of non-alignment born out of the Cold War, to try to keep the peace amid the global fractures, analysts say.
Indonesia has held its ground on Russia, refusing to withdraw Putin's invitation, and also rejecting what Indonesian sources say has been pressure from G7 countries to condemn Russia at the summit this week.
