Words from Bandung to relive in Bali and Delhi

Contact Counsellor

Last Updated08/07/2022

Three summits i.e BRICS, G-7 summit and NATO Summit have cleared stands on Ukraine crisis.

The Indian PM attended the BRICS summit and G-7 outreach between seven members and special invitees - Argentina, Indonesia, India, Senegal and South Africa.
Some of the impact will be clearer at the G-20 meet in Indonesia where India takes over the G-20 presidency in December.

Host: Chinese President.
Significance: First multilateral grouping Russian President attended since Ukraine was invaded.
India at BRICS:
Commitment to an alternate grouping of economies
Refusal to shun Russia
Set aside a two-year stand-off with China’s PLA at LAC in favour of multilateral meetings such as BRICS and Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
BRICS Beijing Declaration: Consensus document
Each member cited differing “National Positions” on the Ukraine issue.
BRICS Economic initiatives: To Contain challenges to western-led sanctions regime against Russia.
New Development Bank (NDB) approved about 17 loans for Russian energy and infrastructure projects.
Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA), and BRICS Payments Task Force (BPTF) for coordination b/w their central banks for an alternative to SWIFT payments system.
Building global reserve currency based on a “basket of currencies” and trading in local currencies.
Russia committed to providing more oil and coal supplies to BRICS countries.

Targeted Russia’s war in Ukraine and China’s economic aggression.
Its outreach documents on “Resilient Democracies” and “Clean and Just Transitions towards Climate Neutrality” were devoid of any mentions of either.

Group comprising U.S., Canada and European countries committed to more NATO actions against “Russian aggression”.
Reference to “systemic competition” from China as a challenge to NATO “interests, security and values”.
Five countries applied to join NATO - Finland, Georgia, Sweden, Ukraine and Bosnia Herzegovina.
Message: NATO would no longer consider Russian sensitivities for NATO expansion

“Partners in the Blue Pacific” (PBP) comprising the U.S., the U.K., Australia, New Zealand and Japan.
Addition to Australia-U.K.-U.S. (AUKUS).
Significance: U.S.’s growing focus on countries that have military alliances with, against its adversaries.

India’s Commitment to a singular strategy that does not condone Russia for its attacks on Ukraine, but one that does not criticize it either.
India is working to diversify its defence purchases from Russia, hostilities with China are high, and a strategic tilt towards the U.S. and Quad partners in the Indo-Pacific is growing.
India as a balancing voice: with Brazil and South Africa, ensuring that BRICS Beijing declaration did not carry the Russian position on the Ukraine war or any criticism of the West.
This tightrope walk is unlikely to suffice as a long-term strategy.
Time for India to seize the moment for leadership in a world that is becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the growing polarization and the disruption due to the Ukraine war.
As the next President of the G-20, India must ensure that the G-20 stays together, and reassure those worried by the brinkmanship of the West on one side and Russia and China on the other.

1955: India took leadership of at Bandung conference that led to Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).
While the present government has shown little interest in NAM or even in Nehruvian thought, it may be necessary to reconsider Nehru’s words in a world fraught with danger nearly 70 years later.