The G7 summit in Japan is marked by economic instability and growing political tensions in the Asia Pacific region
The two-day summit “the big seven”, which started may 26 in Japan, devoted to the discussion re the worsening global economic situation and the crisis in developing countries. However, the leaders of the richest democracies in the world are unable to ignore the outstanding political problems of the Asia-Pacific region. Especially got to China, but experts warn that this attitude of “seven” the second economy in the world may soon lead to the weakening of this format in favor of a more inclusive “big twenty”.
The economic part of the summit was dedicated to the fight against a new round of global crisis. Participants expressed concern that now had developing countries, which suffer from lower prices for raw materials, mainly oil.
They also discussed measures necessary in order to avoid competitive devaluation of national currencies, which allows you to make export goods cheaper and may give an advantage in the struggle for foreign markets. On this question the main claims were to the European members of the G7, which has benefited from low interest rates of the ECB.
One of the main topics was to stimulate the economy. Here the views of the participants diverged. The majority were in favor of more government spending to boost demand and thereby contribute to GDP growth. However, it was opposed by Germany and Britain, which after the crisis of 2008 have relied just on cutting government spending and reducing the budget deficit.
Piotr Dutkiewicz, Professor of political science, Director of the Center for the study of public administration and public policy at Carleton University (Ottawa, Canada), expert of the International discussion club “Valdai” has noted in conversation with “Izvestia” a number of features of the current G7 summit.
— The feature of this summit is that the growth of the world economy is now very weak, slowing growth in China affects the agenda, Europe is weak — and this summit is like no other focused on the economic issues, ” says Dutkiewicz. — Another feature is that the summit is dominated by Barack Obama, even though he resigns as President. Growth in economic terms is noticeable, so Obama plays the first violin.
According to the expert, the experience of recent years showed that the rejection of cooperation with Russia led to the weakening of the G7.
One of the items on the agenda the problem of global financial instability, and how to get out of a difficult situation in an unstable world, the voice of Russia is important, ” says Dutkiewicz. — It is important and concerning Ukraine, and on global issues, including problems of instability in the middle East. The absence of the Russian President will affect the quality of the debate, of course.
The political part of the discussion has focused on problems in Asia, which is not surprising since it takes place in Japan and its Prime Minister Shinzo Abe decided to fully use the opportunity to communicate to partners their concerns, and the reasons for it the Country of the rising sun now many.
First and foremost, with the filing of the host country of the summit participants agreed to send a “clear signal” to China in connection with its expansion in the boundary waters and territorial disputes with its neighbors.
Countries in the region suspect Beijing in attempts to alter by force the status quo, in particular by building artificial Islands to take control of strategically important Spratly archipelago. This approach is shared by the US, which has repeatedly promised to protect the freedom of navigation in the South China sea. Japan expressed more cautious, saying that China’s rise must be peaceful.
At the same time Washington and other members of the “sevens” hope that China will help them in deterring North Korea, which, according to Barack Obama, was determined to acquire nuclear weapons.
“Seven” also discussed the situation in Ukraine.
We raised issues around the situation in Ukraine, where we started to see some progress in the negotiations, but there is still too much violence, ” said Obama to reporters.
As reports TASS, the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, in turn, expressed the view that it is too early to speak about lifting sanctions against Russia.
Dean of Social and humanitarian faculty, NRU HSE Dmitry Ofitserov-Belsky told “Izvestia” that now in the context of actual rejection of Russia and China a decrease in the influence of the G7 on global processes.
— Although the “big seven” has existed since the 70-ies of the last century, much importance it acquired only with the end of the cold war and was a tool by which the collective West has tried to guide the development of other countries, — says the expert. — This summit is held in Japan, with which China has many contradictions and complex historical baggage in the relationship. So there is nothing surprising that now the pressure on Beijing continues.
However, the analyst is confident that the policy of pressure on China disservice by the members of the “sevens” and will actually lead to a depreciation of this format from which Russia is excluded.
— In fact, now the G7 — the United States and some of their Junior partners, not having a monopoly on the solution of important international questions, ” said Ofitserov-Belsky. In turn, China is preparing in September to take the summit of “big twenty” in Hangzhou. Despite the fact that China’s policies cause concern among the dominant powers among the third world countries it is perceived mostly positively. Therefore, it is quite obvious that the format of the “big seven” is gradually beginning to yield to “twenty”.
