G-7 leaders rally to Biden’s call to challenge China
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7 min read . Updated: 13 Jun 2021, 09:59 PM IST - Leaders also vowed to donate one billion Covid-19 vaccine doses to poorer nations over the next year
Leaders of the Group of Seven wealthy democracies on Sunday called on China to respect human rights as President Biden built momentum for his efforts to create an international coalition to counter Chinese influence.
U.S. officials depicted the decision to name China in the joint statement following the summit as a victory for American diplomacy. But it isn’t immediately clear what, if any, practical difference the statement will make. It fell short of an outright condemnation of Beijing and the U.S. didn’t succeed in naming China in a statement condemning forced labor practices.
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French President Emmanuel Macron said that he was eager to continue to engage with China on issues such as climate change. “That is unchanged," he said, adding that nations needed to treat China with respect.
Nonetheless, Mr. Biden’s first international meeting as president—the first in-person G-7 summit in almost two years—was marked by a cooperative approach often absent in those attended by his predecessor, Donald Trump.
“The only way we’re going to meet the global threats is by working together with our partners and our allies," Mr. Biden said at a Sunday press conference following the end of the summit. “America is back at the table," he said.
As a result of U.S. pressure, the final communiqué released on Sunday named Beijing, despite some initial concerns from several European leaders that forceful language might antagonize China, but it didn’t condemn Beijing explicitly.
The group’s closing statement ran to 25 pages and covered issues ranging from pandemic recovery to the global economy, tax, trade and girls’ education. In a section on China, the leaders called on China to respect human rights and freedom, particularly in the northwestern Chinese region of Xinjiang and in Hong Kong.
It also laid out plans to counter Chinese influence in developing nations—in particular its Belt and Road Initiative—with the G-7 clubbing together to fund infrastructure projects. The group also called for a transparent probe into the origins of Covid-19.
“China has its Belt and Road Initiative, and we think there is a much more equitable way to provide for the needs of countries around the world," Mr. Biden said, saying the approach would represent the values of democracies rather than the “lack of values" of autocratic countries.
Human-rights groups and the U.S. and U.K. governments have alleged that Chinese authorities are committing genocide against ethnic Uyghurs, a Muslim minority group, and using forced labor in Xinjiang. The Chinese government has called the allegations lies, saying it is combating terrorism and improving livelihoods in Xinjiang.
In Hong Kong, China has cracked down on opposition figures and stifled criticism, using a new security law that it has imposed on the former British territory.
The statement also said the G-7 would continue to consult on collective approaches to “challenging [China’s] non-market policies and practices which undermine the fair and transparent operation of the global economy."
U.S. officials cast the China language as a major step forward for the G-7, saying it was stronger language than agreed in past G-7 statements. “I think what the president was able to do in these last couple of days was bring countries closer together in dealing with some of the challenges posed by China," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on CBS News’ ‘Face the Nation.’
But the discussions didn’t entirely go Washington’s way. After intensive discussions, with the U.S. pressing again to name China, the statement failed to mention China in a section on forced labor.
“We are concerned by the use of all forms of forced labor in global supply chains, including state-sponsored forced labor of vulnerable groups and minorities, including in the agricultural, solar, and garment sectors," the statement said.
The three-day gathering at a beachside resort in southern England saw a return to more conventional U.S. diplomacy under Mr. Biden, who used the event to showcase America’s desire to partner with other rich democracies to challenge China and other autocracies around the world.
“Bottom line is, I think we’ve made some progress in re-establishing American credibility among our closest friends," Mr. Biden told reporters.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who hosted the event, said he hoped it had lived up to expectations that the leaders would “reject some of the selfishness and nationalist approaches that have marred the initial global response to the pandemic."
The meeting capped the first phase of Mr. Biden’s first international tour as president. Following the meeting, Mr. Biden headed to Windsor Castle for tea with Queen Elizabeth II and then will head to Brussels for the next phase of his trip, which includes a summit with leaders of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. He will then travel to Switzerland to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, with relations between Washington and Moscow at post-Cold War lows.
The joint statement on Sunday also signed off on numerous initiatives including to donate one billion Covid-19 vaccine doses to poorer nations over the next year, end government subsidies for foreign coal projects and place a minimum 15% tax on large multinationals. The tax initiative should reverse “a 40-year race to the bottom," help raise more tax revenues and reduce tax avoidance, the leaders said.
The G-7 leaders called for a “timely and transparent" probe by the World Health Organization into the origins of Covid-19.
Earlier G-7 summits with President Donald Trump in attendance were often more fraught. The 2020 meeting planned for Camp David never took place because of the pandemic. This time, the G-7 nations, made up of the U.S., U.K, France, Italy, Canada, Japan and Germany—along with the European Union—were able to craft joint positions on a number of issues early on during the event with only a few issues needing last-minute ironing out, officials said.
Mr. Johnson said that Mr. Biden was “a breath of fresh air." Mr. Macron, who was seen walking arm-in-arm with Mr. Biden down the beach, said, “I think it’s great to have the U.S. president part of the club and who is very willing to cooperate."
“With the election of Joe Biden as American president, the world is not such that it no longer has any problems," said German Chancellor Angela Merkel, during what is probably her last G-7 summit as German leader. “But we can work with renewed vigor to solve these problems."
The Covid-19 crisis formed a focal point for the meeting. In addition to the agreement to donate one billion Covid-19 vaccine doses, leaders also laid out a framework to ensure that countries can react faster to future pandemics.
The U.S. government is donating 500 million vaccine doses around the world, with the U.K. supplying another 100 million shots. However, the donation is far short of the 11 billion doses the World Health Organization says it needs to inoculate 70% of the global population by next year.
The leaders were criticized by some nongovernmental agencies for not providing more vaccines or pushing pharmaceuticals to share the intellectual property behind the shots. “We need more and we need them faster," said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO, on Saturday.
The G-7 said it would donate 870 million vaccines directly within the next year. The group said this donation, taken together with the financing made available for the Covax vaccine-sharing program since the start of the pandemic, meant the G-7 has donated two billion shots. It pledged to increase this over the coming months.
“I think there’s a possibility, over 2022 going into 2023, that we would be able, would be in a position to provide another billion," Mr. Biden said. “But that’s not done yet."
The G-7 joint statement mentioned ending the pandemic in 2022, but Mr. Biden it said “it may take slightly longer world-wide."
On climate, G-7 nations signed off on a number of measures to combat climate change as they aim to almost halve their greenhouse-gas emissions by 2030 compared with 2010 levels.
The leaders are aiming to halt most government subsidies for fossil-fuel producers overseas and put in place measures to phase out gasoline and diesel cars. Canada, Germany, the U.K. and the U.S. will also provide as much as $2 billion in financing to help developing countries transition away from coal, the White House said. Other initiatives include plans to support girls’ education in developing nations and to protect 30% of the world’s oceans.
To bolster the message of democracies joining to battle authoritarianism, Britain invited India, South Korea, South Africa and Australia as guests to the summit. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi participated by video link because of the Covid-19 wave in his country.
However, an initial idea of creating a formalized “D10" club of democracies was quietly rowed back amid questions about which democracies should join and whether it wouldn’t water down the G-7 format. Instead, officials see a more informal alliance as the best way for democracies to work together in the future.
This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text
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