Intense! Biden ‘Incites’ G-7 President Opposing Xi Jinping

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – President of the United States (US) Joe Biden pressured the leaders of the G-7 countries to take concrete steps to counter China’s increasing global influence during the G-7 summit meeting this Saturday (12/6).

Group 7 or G-7 are the countries consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. The European Union is also represented at the G-7

In a meeting held in the UK, Biden will focus on collaborating with allies to fight Covid-19, to discuss China and Russia. In addition, other agenda items include discussions on climate change, strengthening global supply chains, and ensuring that Western countries maintain their technological advantage over China, the world’s second largest economy.

This step is one of the global infrastructure initiatives campaigned by tagline: Rebuild Better for the World.

The Chinese government under President Xi Jinping has been developing land and sea routes between East Asia and the rest of the world for nearly a decade.

Critics accuse the communist state of also seeking to use these investments to build its political order and prevent criticism of China’s leadership and government institutions.

The planned new G-7 meeting will also discuss US funding for overseas infrastructure, through institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The Biden administration also plans to work with the US Congress to increase US contributions to the G-7 Development Financing Toolkit.

“The hope is that, together with our G-7 partners, the private sector and other stakeholders, we will soon collectively catalyze hundreds of billions of dollars in infrastructure investment for low- and middle-income countries that need it,” said an unnamed senior administration official. quoted by CNBC International, Saturday (12/6/2021).

Biden administration aides insist that the funding project is not about getting countries to choose between the US and China.

“It’s about offering an affirmative alternative vision and approach that they want to choose,” a second administration official told reporters at the time briefing on Friday.

“What we are promoting is a positive and confident agenda focused on bringing together other countries that share our values ​​on the issues that matter most,” the official said.

Biden’s most challenging task at Saturday’s meeting will be convincing G-7 leaders to take concrete action to tackle what the US calls “genocide and crimes against humanity” that China is committing against the Muslim-majority Uyghur province of Xinjiang.

Biden will take a more diplomatic approach to pressure G-7 leaders to condemn China’s treatment of the Uyghurs.

Biden argues that China’s use of forced Uighur labor represents unfair economic competition.

“We believe this practice is an affront to human dignity and a terrible example of China’s unfair economic competition. The point is to send a warning that the G-7 is serious about defending human rights, and that we need to work together to eradicate forced labor from our products.” said a government official.

Even so, there is no guarantee that Biden can convince other G-7 partners to take concrete action.

“Not all members of the G-7 are “willing to be as confrontational with China as Washington is asking,” Denny Roy, a senior fellow at the East-West Center, told The South China Morning Post.

Most prefer to have constructive economic relations while quietly opposing certain Chinese practices.

Even Japan, initially skeptical of China, was hesitant to sign off on sanctions against China for its mistreatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang.

On the 2nd day of the summit, it is still unclear whether China will be named in the public statement to be issued by the G-7 leaders.

“We push to be specific in areas like Xinjiang, where forced slavery occurs and where we have to express our values ​​as a G-7,” a senior Biden official said during the briefing.

“But it’s too early to say what will end in [komunike] final.”

Even so, China is watching the G-7 meeting closely, and earlier this week a government spokesman in Beijing discussed US plans to put China at the front and center of the G-7 agenda.

The G-7 meeting concludes on Sunday, after which Biden will travel to Brussels, where he will attend a NATO summit on Monday (14/6).

There the US will also advocate for strategies to counter China’s global influence.

A Biden administration official said the summit would mark the first time NATO countries would address a security challenge from China head-on in a communique.

However, it is expected that Biden will face some of the same challenges in Brussels as he faced in Britain, namely the reluctance of many European countries to risk their deep economic ties with Beijing over its malign acts and alleged human rights abuses.

– .