NEW DELHI--Prime Minister Fumio Kishida failed to unite leaders of the Group of 20 countries at the weekend summit in India in sending a strong message condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Kishida traveled to New Delhi with a special responsibility as chair of this year’s Group of Seven industrialized democracies to reflect its agreements at the Hiroshima summit in May on discussions at the G-20, which also includes emerging economies and developing countries.

Words of condemnation against Russia, a member of the grouping, were missing from the New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration announced on Sept. 9, the first day of the two-day summit.

“We highlighted the human suffering and negative added impacts of the war in Ukraine with regard to global food and energy security ...,” the document said. “There were different views and assessments of the situation.”

WATERED DOWN

The declaration that G-20 leaders adopted at the Bali summit last year said, “Most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine.”

It also quoted a United Nations resolution that “deplores in the strongest terms the aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine and demands its complete and unconditional withdrawal from the territory of Ukraine.”

Representatives from Japan’s Foreign Ministry arrived in India on Sept. 4 and negotiated behind the scenes with their counterparts from other G-20 members to include condemnation against Russia in the leaders’ declaration.

Japanese officials argued the expression should be based on last year’s declaration, but Russia and China were opposed, sources said.

It appeared uncertain until immediately before the summit whether G-20 countries could issue a leaders’ declaration because of their differing stances on the issue.

But member countries eventually agreed to weaken the related wording in line with the wishes of India, this year’s G-20 chair, sources said.

Concerning the war in Ukraine, the leaders’ declaration said, “all states must refrain from the threat or use of force to seek territorial acquisition against the territorial integrity and sovereignty or political independence of any state,” without singling out Russia.

At a news conference in New Delhi on Sept. 10, Kishida said, “It was significant that all members, including Russia, reached an agreement.”

But the G-20 document revealed a stark difference from the G-7’s view on Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.

In a statement on Ukraine adopted in Hiroshima, G-7 leaders said, “We condemn, in the strongest terms, Russia’s manifest violation of the Charter of the United Nations and the impact of Russia’s war on the rest of the world.”

A spokesperson for Ukraine’s foreign ministry criticized the G-20 leaders’ declaration on Sept. 9, saying, the “G-20 has nothing to be proud of” in terms of its stance on the Russian invasion.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, on the other hand, hailed the G-20 summit as an “unconditional success for all member countries” at a news conference in New Delhi on Sept. 10.

The G-20 leaders’ declaration included policy issues that G-7 leaders agreed on per Japan’s initiative at this year’s summit, such as utilizing data for food security and making vaccines and medicines available to everyone regardless of income gap.

“I have been able to solidly hand over achievements at the G-7 summit in Hiroshima to the G-20,” Kishida said at the Sept. 10 news conference.

At the G-20 summit, Kishida tried to deepen Japan’s relationship with India in part to counter China by building partnerships with emerging economies and developing countries collectively known as the Global South.

Chinese President Xi Jinping was absent from the weekend summit, casting a damper on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s role as G-20 chair.

“It is a good time to strengthen ties with India when the relationship between China and India is down,” said a senior Foreign Ministry official.

LOBBIES CHINA OVER WATER RELEASE

Prior to his visit to India, Kishida participated in summits with members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Indonesia.

Kishida spoke with Chinese Premier Li Qiang for 15 minutes before an ASEAN summit with leaders of Japan, China and South Korea on Sept. 6.

He called on Li to have China immediately retract its import ban on Japanese seafood imposed over Japan’s discharge of treated and diluted radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

“It was important that I met (with Li) for the first time and firmly conveyed my thoughts,” Kishida told the news conference, adding that Japan plans to communicate with China on all levels.

Kishida emphasized the safety of the treated water being released into the Pacific Ocean during meetings with leaders of other countries on the sidelines of the international conferences last week.

“We have steadily gained the understanding of other countries,” he said.