By Vestnik Kavkaza
The summit of the G20 continues in St. Petersburg. The G20 is a format of international meetings of finance ministers and central bank governors representing 20 economies: the 19 largest national economies and the European Union. In addition, usually the G20 meetings are attended by representatives of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Altogether, the G20 represents 90% of global gross national product, 80% of world trade (including intra-EU trade) and two -thirds of the world population. It is a forum for cooperation and consultation on matters pertaining to the international financial system. Until 2008, the Group did not hold summits at the highest level; its main form of activity was the annual meeting of finance ministers and central bankers. It was created in response to the financial crises of the 1990s, and a growing awareness of the fact that emerging market economies and the Asia-Pacific countries were not adequately represented in global economic debates and decision-making contributed to this. Radical change in the balance of power in world politics and the global economy are reflected in the bodies of global governance, in particular in the G20. Experts commented on the role of the G20 in world politics and the expectations for the summit.
“The phenomenon of the G20 is a phenomenon of probably the last 8 to 10 years. Radical changes in the balance of power in world politics and the global economy are reflected already in the bodies of global governance,” Andrey Kokoshin, dean of the Department of World Politics of Moscow State University, says. “There is a very significant increase in world politics and the economy of Asian countries, the developing countries in general, and if you take specific countries, the first question, of course, is the rapid growth of the positions of the People's Republic of China in the world economy and world politics; we have very good relationship with it now. And in particular, as for the same Syrian issue, Russia and China have a common position. And this is the position of the two countries – permanent members of the UN Security Council.”
Speaking about the changes in the system of world politics, Kokoshin pays attention to “the role played in the recovery of the world economy and politics that China had in the 18th century, when it was the largest state economically and a very influential country, both politically and militarily. But then, of course, there was not such a close interdependence between the various nations of the world, as is the case now. But, of course, we focused on the role of a country like India and noted the significance of other developing countries like Brazil, Indonesia and other countries. Their new role should be reflected in the balance of power in what is called the bodies of global governance. And, perhaps, the most important of that body is the G20, surpassing the G8 in a few of the positions.”
Vitaly Naumkin, director of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the RAS, states about the increasing role of Asia, strengthening the role of the Pacific Rim in the world political system, in the world economy. He reminds about a new balance of power, which is shaping up both in the economic sphere and in the military and military-strategic sphere. Speaking of Russian-American relations, Naumkin says that they “are now going through a really difficult period due to the fact that, as we see a return carried out by President Obama, who put at the forefront when he was elected the thesis of the need to end the wars in the Middle East - in Iraq and Afghanistan - a return to the "Bushism”. This new "Bushism”, a new interventionism of the United States, is not only again bypassing international institutions, in spite of the fact that President Obama declared his commitment to a rejection of unilateralism, unilateral decision-making; today we see not only a circumvention of international institutions, but even decisions taken in bypassing public opinion in the countries of the West, which today does not want a new war.”
Mentioning double standards, Naumkin states: “Everyone is talking today about the humanitarian catastrophe, refugees in Syria, about the number of dead, but let's remember that 10 years have passed since the start of operations in Iraq of the U.S. and its allies, and during 10 years in Iraq more than 200,000 people have been killed. This is significantly more than those killed in Syria, and refugees were about 8 million – these were refugees and internally-displaced persons in Iraq. This tragedy could not be prevented by the countries of NATO who carried out this operation. Therefore, these double standards and hypocrisy of some kind, with which they talk about the protection of the civilian population are quite disturbing.”
However Naumkin does not think we need today to inflate this anti-American note: “We still need to seek understanding. Unfortunately, within the G20 and among developing countries, the so-called new states, some of them take a tough position on Syria, these are primarily Turkey and Saudi Arabia. But I think that Russia and China, which are together, will participate in a very hard fight for those ideals of the world order for which Russia has been fighting in recent years.”
