Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping will both attend the G20 conference in Bali in November 2022, according to Indonesian President Joko Widodo on August 18.
“Xi Jinping will come. President Putin has also told me he will come,” Jokowi, as he is popularly known, told the news agency Bloomberg.
As the G20’s chair, Indonesia has come under pressure from the West to revoke its invitation to Putin in response to what his government refers to as a “special military operation” in Ukraine.
This high-level visit takes place at a time when tensions between the West and China and Russia are at an all-time high. There have been disputes between China and the US about trade, human rights, and Taiwan. Meanwhile, the Ukraine conflict has widened rifts between Moscow and the US-led western alliance.
The president, known as Jokowi, has become more involved in international affairs as the G20’s leader this year.
He visited Kyiv and Moscow in late June to meet with his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts, Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskiy, as part of diplomatic attempts to end the war and ease the world food crisis. He did so first among Asian leaders.
He claimed that Indonesia “had been acknowledged as a diplomatic bridge” between the two countries.
In November, world leaders will gather on Bali, a tourist destination in Indonesia, including US President Joe Biden. Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the president of Ukraine, was also invited by Indonesia.
The second and last term of President Jokowi, who was chosen in 2014, will end in 2024.