The G7 summit, established in 1975 with the aim of investigating the crises caused by the OPEC oil embargo, along with global developments in strategic security and economic areas stemming from the emergence of new powers, emerging challenges and unprecedented threats to G7 interests, gradually changed the agenda to maintain a world order based on self-interest. At the current meeting of the group, in addition to addressing the issue of the Corona pandemic and climate change, a decision will be made on whether to confront or contain China and Russia as emerging threats.
With a $ 40 trillion economy, and the permanent membership of its three members in the UN Security Council, and having the strongest military power in the world and the world nuclear power, the G7 considers itself the owner of the world order led by the United States and other powerful countries. It has never been possible to join the group, and this in itself reinforces the flaw in the Group of Seven’s counter-strategy against countries it knows as rivals. During these years, the group only accepted Russia to change its behavior, which was expelled from the G7 due to the occupation of Crimea in 2014. As the world’s second largest economy, China has not only not been a member of this group, but has always been a topic of confrontation or restraint at various G7 meetings.
The Group of Seven’s unchanging approach to Russia and China, coupled with the long-term plans of Washington and Europe, expresses deep concerns about the Beijing uprising and Moscow’s incompatibility; This signals to other countries that the expansion of relations with these two countries can be non-constructive and pave the way for the limitation of G7 interactions with them. Although Washington and other members have argued that their goal is not to limit China or its downfall, the G7’s political and security structure suggests that the United States, at the helm of the G7, is working against independent action. Defend yourself against any country, including China, Russia and Iran, that challenges “international law based on the G7 order.”
The main focus of the upcoming summit talks will be on China and Russia’s expansionists. The issue of Ukraine and Russia’s withdrawal from Crimea and how to respond, as well as the appropriate and rapid response to Russian military maneuvers on the Ukrainian border and the security margins of NATO and Russia are also important axes for the G7 countries.
The G7 summit is scheduled to take place in the UK on June 11, 2021. In addition to member states, representatives from Australia, India, South Korea and South Africa have been invited, in turn, to try to align with other countries around the world to deal with threats from China and Russia or contain the two countries. But given the fundamental differences between Europe and the United States over China, it is unlikely to lead to a favorable outcome.
At the forthcoming G7 summit, the main goals of the summit are to unite democracies to help the world recover from the COVID-19 epidemic and to create a greener and more prosperous future for the earth and its inhabitants. The G7’s climate policy priorities are to act on the oceans and to support the transition to a low-carbon economy by 2050. The decisions that the G7 countries will make in the next few weeks will have a major impact on whether countries succeed in long-term water goals at the 26th United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP26) or under the Paris Agreement. And their air will arrive or not.
However, it is unlikely that the G7 will be able to use the 26th session of the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP26) in Glasgow in November, given the sharp disagreement over emissions reductions. Renew renewable energy to achieve a tangible political decision instead of leaving coal and nuclear power plants.
The G7 knows that China is a threat that could repair or exacerbate the current divergence of US alliances after Trump’s departure. Hence, the Biden government is trying to use China to strengthen US interests and strengthen the alliance system through further restraining of China. Climate change is one of the few issues that the United States is willing to work with China because without China’s cooperation and control, the Biden administration’s goals of reducing greenhouse gases will not be achieved.
While maintaining China’s containment strategy, the United States intends to completely separate Washington-Beijing bilateral climate cooperation from rivalry and confrontation between the two countries, and this kind of cooperation should not be considered to improve relations and remain a separate project to advance the interests of the United States.
Biden is even willing to make a concession to Beijing on climate programs, to make progress during his presidency, and to bring his European allies closer together. Of course, the Chinese have shown that they are smarter than the Americans and are more concerned with a deal in which China does not live up to its obligations unilaterally and the United States does not benefit unilaterally. China has already pledged to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and eliminate them by 2060. But it will not play in a way that further serves US interests to hand over management and leadership to the United States.
It is understandable to Beijing that the United States wants to force China to accept more commitments by playing a leading role. But Beijing’s vigilance has left the United States lacking the moral and practical power to dictate climate change to Beijing and even other G7 members in the global process of tackling greenhouse gas emissions. Of course, climate change issues require a lot of technical inputs, and climate monitoring is one of the areas in which Washington is desperately seeking to boycott China’s advanced technologies and prevent the transfer of these technologies to Beijing leaders.
With all the current issues and problems between China and the United States, each G7 meeting is more intertwined, and we cannot hope that the two sides can create special grounds for strengthening friendly cooperation because under Trump, both sides believe they have lost their ground in relation to each other, and this greatly influences the decisions of the G7.
However, China-US bilateral relations are not just about strategies but also about a set of different exchanges. So anyone who can take the Beijing-Washington bilateral relationship a little further should be applauded. But the Group of Seven has been incapable of taking the same position in dispute cases, and its anti-China policy in particular has further complicated the dispute settlement case. In this regard, the United States and the Group of Seven are at a crossroads to counter or contain China, and cooperation with Beijing in the context of increasing international threats has become more difficult.
by William Holmes
