Biden brings together Western allies in a global “contest” against autocrats

U.S. President Joe Biden has challenged G7 leaders to use their financial muscle to counter China’s growing global influence, declaring that Western democracies were “in a dispute with autocrats.”

Biden said he was “satisfied” with the outcome of the G7 summit in Cornwall on Sunday, but urged European leaders to be more ambitious in support. an alternative to the China and Belt Initiative offering a comprehensive infrastructure financing package to poor countries.

European leaders at the summit, a gathering of the world’s leading advanced economies, were more cautious in opposing Beijing. The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson, host of the summit, refused to specifically mention China’s name in his closing press conference.

Several leaders, including Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, said the West needed to work with China on key areas, especially climate change.

French President Emmanuel Macron said the G7 was not “hostile to China”, while a British official said: “The point of the summit is to show who we are, not who we are against.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel supported the creation of a working group to explore ways for G7 governments to work with the private sector on infrastructure projects in the developing world.

After the meeting, held in Carbis Bay, off the coast of Cornwall, England, Biden praised the summit communiqué for his references to China, stating that he was “satisfied” with its content and that there was “a lot of action” in measures to counter Beijing.

The President of the United States noted that the last time the G7 was convened there had been no reference to China. “The G7 explicitly agreed to call for human rights abuses in Xinjiang and Hong Kong,” he said, adding that there was also a strategy to put pressure on China over its use of forced labor.

“We are in a contest, not with China per se, but with autocrats and autocratic governments around the world to see if democracies can compete with them in a rapidly changing 21st century,” Biden said.

On the last day of the three-day meeting, G7 leaders launched a new initiative called “Rebuilding Better for the World,” or B3W, but did not agree on the details of how it should be funded or what it would involve. .

Biden said a committee would draw up the plan, with a focus on climate change, health, digital technology and gender equity, to challenge the billions of dollars spent by China on infrastructure in the poorest countries.

“China has this belt and road initiative, and we believe there is a much more equitable way to meet the needs of developing countries around the world,” he said. The new fund “would represent the values ​​that our democracies represent and not the autocratic lack of values.”

However, climate change experts said the G7 meeting had not made any collective financial commitments to help developing countries reduce greenhouse gas emissions or deal with climate disasters.

It also diluted a compromise G7 environment ministers prepared last month in time for the phasing out of coal-fired power plants. The goal of a “suffocately decarbonised energy system in the 2030s” was withdrawn in the latest statement.

G7 leaders were also criticized for their ambition his plan to share Covid vaccines with poorer countries. The statement said the group would share “at least 870 million doses directly over the next year.”

Oxfam responded that “a billion doses would have been a drop in the bucket, but they didn’t even get it.” The statement said the G7 had planned more than 2 billion vaccines for the developing world since the start of the pandemic.

Biden portrayed the rally as a break with the Trump era, saying “America is back on the table. America is leading the world again.”

A European diplomat noted: “Everyone is delighted that the US is coming back, but American leadership means they will want something from us.”

Johnson said the summit had been marked by “fantastic harmony,” though the issue of Brexit and the new trade rules for Northern Ireland negotiations with European leaders.

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The British Prime Minister insisted that he would do “whatever it takes” to ensure that the post-Brexit deal does not impose irrational burdens on trade between Britain and Northern Ireland.

China criticized the United States and other G7 members, arguing that “genuine multilateralism” was based on the UN. “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.

Additional reports by Erika Solomon in Berlin