G20: Xi, Erdogan look to mend fences internationally

TEL AVIV [ISRAEL]: The recent G20 Summit seems to be an opportunistic platform for Chinese President Xi Jinping as he tried to mend relations with the United States, Sergio Restelli writes in The Times of Israel.

Since Chinese President Xi assumed the third term of power at the 20th party congress, he is changing his approach to the international community.

China and US relations whose relations were not on good terms ever since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August, but now Xi is trying to change China's relationship with America.

In the recent G20 Summit, the US President and his Chinese counterpart met with each other. Some analysts believed that the three-hour dialogue between the Chinese leader and the US president at the margins of the G20 Indonesia summit produced a "breakthrough."

Although the US President, who is a habitual off-the-cuff speaker, read his notes in a focused manner during statements to the press and used the pacifying term "One China" twice, according to The Times of Israel.

"The world is big enough for the two countries to develop themselves and prosper together," tweeted Hua Chunying, a foreign ministry spokesperson who accompanied Xi in his meeting with Biden echoing Kissinger's policy which has shaped relations with the people's republic since the thaw in relations under US ex-President Richard Nixon and China's former leader Mao Zedong.

The most opportunistic leader at this G20 is not Russia's Vladimir Putin, who in his absence may try and send feelers for peace to the international community, but Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The Turkish President's game is straightforward, he wanted that he could do anything and then can get away on the international stage. While after a long period of tensions, he has managed to restart peaceful relationship with Israel, the jury is still out on Turkey's role in the civil strife in certain mixed cities.

It is well known that Turkey supports Hamas and other Islamic brotherhood organizations that fiercely oppose Israel's existence. It is also a fact that Turkey is holding NATO hostage with its veto for the Swedes and Finns to join the transatlantic alliance, according to The Times of Israel. But the Director of the CIA and his Russian counterpart met in Ankara and Erdogan's role in keeping migrants at bay in Europe has earned him the kudos and funds of the EU despite his blatant regard for human rights and journalistic freedom which the EU treasures.

What is worrying is Erdogan's use of false flag operations to manipulate international opinion and allows him carte blanche when it comes to dealing with the Kurds in Turkey and especially in Syria. Of all the leaders in Bali, Erdogan is the one to look out for.

He feels he is invincible and he is desperate, a dangerous combination in an absolute ruler. With Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin, the world must worry about Erdogan, his desperation is the reason that the Middle East and the world may plunge into another security crisis soon, as per The Times of Israel report.