The significance of the 2021 G7 Summit: Success or a Failure?
The recent conclusion of the G7 summit held in Cornwall, UK has raised a series of questions regarding the future of the world order. The meet was held between the 11th and 13th of June where the leaders of the richest democracies addressed some of the pressing concerns of world while simultaneously negotiating on bilateral levels. The summit comes at a time when the world is facing a global health disaster alongside an upsurge in authoritarian and populist trends. As far as the international community is concerned, the G7 has not been able to provide a credible alternative to the rising optimism for authoritarian systems. Therefore, the summit has become all the more significant due to its symbolic attempt of gaining confidence back in their favour. However, experts have noted that the resolutions and promises are inadequate with regards to the scale of the issues. The main aspects of the summit were what we can call the three Cs: China, climate and Covid. This article derives some of the key points from the event to get a sense of the present state of international politics.
Introduction
Under the leadership of PM Boris Johnson, the United Kingdom hosted the G7- the first major meeting at the multilateral level ever since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. The event remains significant as it was much anticipated and watched out for due to numerous reasons. The group comprising of the US, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Japan, and the UK, together make up for about 45% of the global GDP and thus have special 'responsibility' of providing viable policy solutions to tackle the problem of coronavirus, climate, human rights, etc. This year the G7 also invited India, South Africa, South Korea, and Australia which has been an interesting development considering the power tussle between the US and China. As the world was trying to deal with the health crisis, most of these states especially the US fell short of providing any substantive remedy aided by a rather slow vaccination process. It, therefore, exposes the lack of health infrastructure and disinvestment in public health mostly due to the neo-liberal economic order championed by the US and its allies. However, after the arrival of Joe Biden as the 46th president of the US, there has been some "going back" in the country's policies such as an attempt to regain the confidence of its European and NATO allies. To understand this more clearly it is better to look at some of the key points from the meet.
America Is Back
The meet was an opportunity for Joe Biden to rebuild the trust and confidence among its closest allies while simultaneously also sending out a clear message to the world that the US supports multilateralism. Thanks to the policies of Donald Trump, G7 nations like Italy and Germany have bonded well with the PRC. Although much of the damage done by Biden’s predecessor is yet to be fully addressed, it seems like he did not miss the opportunity to reiterate “America is back” in his public speeches and statements. Apart from shunning the G7, Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement and his sharp criticism of the EU looked as if the United States was not willing to share the collective responsibility. Biden’s earliest announcements even before he was sworn in was to rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement. What makes Biden’s policy more in line with his beloved phrase is his policy to contain China by joining hands with the EU, which unlike Trump is not just about imposing tariffs.
Covid Challenge
The meet came at a time when most of the developing countries around the world have not been able to procure vaccines. The G7 promised 1 billion vaccines to the developing world by 2022 while the world needs at least 15 to 17 billion doses by this year to end the pandemic. The G7 reaffirmed its support for the ACT-A along with a promise to strengthen the COVAX vaccine supply, productions and distribution of medical equipment, etc. Going by the recommendations of international bodies such as the WHO and IMF, the commitments seem to fall seriously short with regards to the current needs. On top of that, experts note the promises looked vague and are lacking in any concrete set of agendas.
China
The summit addressed the elephant in the room although not directly. While it seems like the tides are less in favour of the liberal-democratic model, the event came at an important juncture because the concerns regarding human rights violations and authoritarianism have also grown parallelly. It is of little doubt that China’s growing influence in the developing world has threatened the American status quo even as a few nations are sliding into debt owing to the Belt and Road Initiative. In response to this, the G7 has come up with a Green Belt and Road to tackle the infrastructure challenges of the developing world. Also, the group promised to address other issues under the B3W (Bring Back Better World). President Xi's crackdown in Hong Kong and ambitious manoeuvres around Taiwan has created a response within the G7 to address the issues related to state-led aggression, human rights and the future of democracy. More importantly, the rhetoric adopted by China has been to accuse the US of politicizing the health crisis, in the process, undermining its accountability concerning the origins and outbreak of the virus.
Although German Chancellor Merkel has remained open to keep the channels of trade open for China, the G7 was an opportunity to watch out for Italian PM Mario Draghi who is anticipated to be stringent with the People’s Republic owing to his pro-European and “Atlanticist” policies. Unlike his predecessors who remained keen to participate in China’s grand plans including the BRI, Draghi seems to be sceptical of the Chinese, an example of which is issuing a decree to block Huawei and ZTE. All things said, as much as the US and its G7 allies have hinted towards challenging China’s revivalist tendencies, it is still safe to argue that attacking China on the grounds of human rights violation has been an old playing field for the Asian Giant. There was little to no direct question of whether the G7 could pose some solution-based agendas owing to its long-held allegations of China’s economic espionage, military actions, and violation of international norms.
Climate
Ahead of the COP25, G7 remained a significant event to hint towards the larger intentions of the wealthy nations. Unfortunately, for many climate activists and experts, it was again about mere statements that did not cater to any specific issue area. Except increasing the finances to better equip the poorer countries in controlling their carbon emissions, most points that came out of the meeting were already floating such as net-zero emissions by 2050 and reducing the current emissions to half by 2030. An article in Politico suggests “failure to set an end-date on coal” was another “missed opportunity” which only speaks volume of the G7's political realities. Observers have been much disappointed with the constant narrative that puts pressure on poorer countries to reduce their energy consumption reflecting the typical nature of the G7.
Conclusion
It is complex to answer whether the 2021 G7 was a showdown or an agenda-based meeting, but critics, as well as optimists, seem to be more engaged in looking at what has "come out" of the meet. The meet was not necessarily intended to solidify the G7's stance on the boiling questions as one must not forget that the nature of G7 itself is much different than what it is assumed to be. The G7 was formed as an informal group and remains unchanged till date. It does not exist legally with the capacity of producing any binding policy measure either. In order therefore to fully understand the spirit of the G7 we must think of it as a platform rather than as a working body. Keeping that in mind, it is clearer as why the summit is not completely a failure much the same way as it is not a success.
First, it is not a failure as it does not completely lose its essence. Due to the similar models of governance and ideological resemblance, the 2021 G7 recognized the need to resist populist movements across the world, strengthen free trade and international institutions, but most importantly resume the state's role as the body that protects the rule of law. The best example of it was assuring to set the taxation at 15% and above for MNCs. Hugely endorsed by the US president, this comes at a time when market policies have been witnessed to produce corporate monopolies across the globe.
Second, it is also not a complete success due to the internal contradictions of the G7. Trump’s legacy has cast a huge shadow on the domestic political future of the oldest democracy. Racial as well as economic polarization do not seem to be on the priority list of agendas for these countries. Internal frictions related to Brexit caught a lot of attention further complicating the position of the UK vis-à-vis the EU. India's participation in the meet raises a serious question regarding the real intention of the US which not long back had performed a FONOP (Freedom of Navigation Operation) near Lakshadweep in the Indian Ocean without prior permission from the Indian government.
It is hard to predict whether the purpose of the G7 would result in the formation of an alliance and if an alliance, would it be purely militaristic or an ideological one or both. But what remains central is for the G7 to further evaluate the possibilities of negotiating with a rapidly surfacing China. The dilemma of whether to cooperate on transboundary issues such as climate or to counter by taking up issues like Xinjiang needs to end by the use of sustainable and balanced tools of diplomacy.
Notes:
https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/g7-group-summit-uk-2021/
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/where-the-g7-summit-failed-101623744950296.html
https://www.ft.com/content/4d7bf8ad-f585-44b2-9250-790ec430de4b
https://www.reuters.com/world/china-climate-vaccines-what-g7-agreed-this-weekend-2021-06-13/
https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/where-g7-headed
https://www.ft.com/content/f33b43e6-0cea-486b-a3cf-628a31c09693
Pic Courtesy-Republic World
(The views are those of the author and do not represent views of CESCUBE.)
