It will be another broken promise and a pile of excuses.
The G7 Wants to Copy China’s Homework. Beijing Is Fine With That.
With the component of realist international competition removed, the G-7 and China actually share many hopes and desires for global development.
By Wang Wen June 09, 2023
China’s foreign ministry was rightly outraged by the G-7’s communique from last month’s summit in Hiroshima, Japan. A section titled “China” reiterated a number of the West’s anti-China cliches, suggesting Beijing was not committed to peace and equality in its global development goals.
It is thus ironic that, after reading the entire 19,000-plus-word communique, that I found that many of the G-7’s hopes and desires for the world appear to have been lifted directly from official documents of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
For example, Article 1 of the G-7 communique states that it hopes to “strengthen our partnerships with African countries and support greater African representation in multilateral forums,” which is precisely a key goal of China’s foreign policy. Over the past few decades, Chinese foreign ministers have made a habit of making an African country their first destination for each new year.
Article 8 of the G-7 communique talks about “addressing potential risks to the stability, resilience, and integrity of the monetary and financial system,” which exactly matches one of the three major domestic development objectives proposed by China in 2017.
.............
Over the past 10 years, China has signed cooperation agreements under the BRI with 151 countries, raising more than $700 billion for infrastructure and other cooperation projects. The G-7 communique, meanwhile, meekly reads, “We reaffirm our shared commitment to the G7 Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII) and working together and aiming to mobilize up to $600 billion by 2027.”
I can only hope this better-late-than-never gesture doesn’t end as yet another broken promise and a pile of excuses.