中文
By Xin Ping
The BBC commented that if the G7 Summit in Hiroshima were a dinner party, the host would be rummaging in the garage for an extendable table, hunting through boxes for extra placemats and cutlery. The seemingly "bustling" G7 summit showed how desperately Western countries were trying to woo more companions. But sadly, it once again turned out to be a drama performed by a small, exclusive circle of entrenched players who were indulged in their "good old days."
G7 leadership has shrunk dramatically
Yes, there was a time when the G7 dominated the international political and economic landscape. But this dominance is fading with the changing dynamics between big powers. According to a World Bank report, the average contribution of the G7 to world economic growth between 2013 and 2021 was only 25.7 percent. Among the seven members, the United States had the highest contribution rate of 18.6 percent, less than half that of China (38.6 percent). From the "Lehman moment" to the debt crisis, the leadership of G7 is on a trajectory of decline. The group could hardly shoulder global responsibilities and often become international instability and uncertainties exporters.
Neither could they lead the settlement of international crises such as the one in Ukraine, as they cling to their usual tactic of setting countries against each other. The world is changing. More and more countries are opting for an alternative to Cold War-style confrontation.
G7 values are widely questioned
In the past few years, the U.S. and its allies have been reinforcing the narrative of "democracy versus authoritarianism," and seeking to blackmail non-Western countries to join their legion of narrative warfare. Under the guise of "promoting democracy" and "protecting human rights," the U.S. staged color revolutions, instigated regional conflicts, and even directly waged wars.
According to a report from Brown University, under the pretext of eliminating threats from radical groups, the U.S. has claimed at least 4,500,000 lives globally in the wars it launched after 2001.
It is ironic that the G7 countries, who claim to be the "guardians" of democracy and human rights, are blind to their faults – the Capitol riots and the "Black Lives Matter" movement in the U.S., Canada's appalling records of abusing its aboriginal people, Japan's persistent denial of its history of aggression, and so forth. The world has every right to reject this pretentious "role model."
Take "Summit for Democracy 2023" for example. Many countries turned down the U.S. invitation and denounced the so-called "democracy versus authoritarianism" narrative as anachronistic. They were no longer hiding their disappointment in the Western values, which were nothing more than a concoction of post-colonial domination, double standards, and disregard for the developing countries' concerns.
G7 "unity" is but a mirage
Born in the Cold War era, the G7 carries the genes of bloc politics and confrontation. It always attempts to form exclusive cliques, draw lines between countries according to its criteria and force other countries to take sides. It seems that the major objective of the G7 summit is to impose a hierarchy on the international community and create division in the world, just as what the U.S. did when it initiated the "Five Eyes," the QUAD, and the AUKUS.
The unity within the G7 has begun to crumble. On the eve of the Hiroshima Summit, "top secret" documents were leaked from the Pentagon to see the light of day, exposing the U.S. eavesdropping and wiretapping against its close allies, including Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, the Israeli intelligence agency, and top government officials in South Korea. What a good way to manifest "unity"! On how to deal with China, no real agreement can be reached among G7 countries, with France explicitly stating that Europe should have "strategic autonomy" and Germany expressing concerns about "decoupling" from China. The increasing fragmentation of interests has become more and more evident within this bloc.
Like a drug addict, the G7 was intoxicated by its fantasy about ganging up for world domination, totally losing sight of the prevailing trend of the times. It needs a pill of openness and inclusiveness to dissolve what's clogging its mind – a stubborn misbelief in the law of the jungle.
Xin Ping is a commentator on international affairs, writing regularly for Xinhua News Agency, CGTN, Global Times, China Daily, etc.
