Wei Wei

Opinion | A tale of two summits: to the G7, China is an economic bully; to Central Asia, it is a vital partner

Other than pointing fingers at China, the G7 summit achieved little compared with the China-Central Asia Summit, which showed the way in boosting cooperation and dialogue towards sustainable development

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Oxfam activists dressed as G7 leaders protest against the lack of action to tackle the East Africa hunger crisis, on May 17 in London, ahead of the G7 summit in Japan. Photo: dpa

Wei Wei

Published: 3:30am, 29 May 2023Updated: 10:53am, 29 May 2023

The inaugural China-Central Asia Summit and G7 summit were two of the most prominent international events so far this year. Both kicked off at almost the same time, May 18 and 19 respectively, and revolved around China – even though it is not a member of the Group of Seven – and ended up with rather different conclusions about China’s global influence.

At the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, China’s growing economic might was one of the biggest concerns. The communique said the G7 “will seek to address the challenges posed by China’s non-market policies and practices, which distort the global economy”; that the G7 will “foster resilience to economic coercion” and “increase our collective assessment, preparedness, deterrence and response to economic coercion”.

A separate G7 statement on economic resilience and security spoke of “a disturbing rise in incidents of economic coercion that seek to exploit economic vulnerabilities and dependencies and undermine the foreign and domestic policies and positions of G7 members as well as partners around the world”. It also lamented that economic coercion “undermines the functioning of and trust in the multilateral trading system” and “ultimately undermines global security and stability”.

The statement did not name China but the accusation was clear. However, when examined closely, the claim may actually fit the United States better, considering the type of “economic coercion” it is capable of: trade wars, sanctions, dollar weaponisation, violations of the international order – the list goes on. Even its allies have fallen victim to its economic coercion, especially in the face of its “America first” policy.

The Inflation Reduction Act is a clear example of US protectionism at the expense of its allies. The European Union, Japan and South Korea have all strongly criticised the legislation – which subsidises American makers of electric cars and batteries, among others – as “discriminatory” and against “international trade rules”.