BEIJING (Dispatches) – China on Sunday pointedly cautioned Group of Seven leaders that the days when “small” groups of countries decided the fate of the world were long gone, hitting back at the world’s richest countries which have sought a unified position over Beijing.
“The days when global decisions were dictated by a small group of countries are long gone,” a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in London said.
“We always believe that countries, big or small, strong or weak, poor or rich, are equals, and that world affairs should be handled through consultation by all countries.”
The re-emergence of China as a leading global power is considered to be one of the most significant geopolitical events of recent times, alongside the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union that ended the Cold War.
Leaders of the so-called Group of Seven (G7) largest economies have adopted an openly hostile anti-China stance, including a U.S.-proposed rival plan to counter China’s multi-trillion-dollar Belt and Road initiative (BRI) by investing in infrastructure in developing countries.
The adoption of the Build Back Better World (B3W) project came after U.S. President Joe Biden and other G7 leaders held their meeting in southwestern England on Saturday as part of attempts to confront China’s surging economic and military rise over the past four decades.
Leaders of G7, which is comprised of the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United States, expressed hope that the plan would provide a transparent infrastructure partnership to help narrow the $40 trillion required for developing countries by 2035.
The White House underlined that the B3W initiative would also be used to mobilize private-sector capital in areas such as climate, health and health security, digital technology, and gender equity and equality.
It was not immediately clear how exactly the plan would work or how much capital would ultimately be allocated for it.
U.S. officials said on Saturday that the G7 leaders had reached a consensus on the need for a shared approach to China’s alleged human rights abuses in the Xinjiang region and Beijing’s exports at unfairly low prices.
The U.S. and China are at odds over a range of issues, including alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang, Beijing’s policies with regard to Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) and the disputed territories in the South China Sea, as well as the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ties between Washington and Beijing under former US president Donald Trump turned fractious, with clashes on issues relating to trade, technology, and regional security.
Biden has shown little sign of establishing a swift rapprochement with Beijing, describing China as Washington’s “most serious competitor,” and saying the U.S. would continue to confront what he called China’s “attack on human rights, intellectual property and global governance.”