Small Brains’ Big Talks

The US and its allies have lost much of their credibility, but of course, they are intent to stay relevant. The recent G7 foreign minister’s meeting in Japan is a case in point.

Much of the world has already demonstrated their unhappiness with the US – news headlines stuff like Saudi’s Crown Prince Salman’s snub of Biden in Riyadh, Brazil’s President Lula’s de-dollarization advocation in Beijing, and even France’s President Macron’s “don’t rely too much on America” advice to his fellow European leaders, to the various utterances and actions by leaders in the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa.

 

The communique that was issued after the meeting looks like the product of a group assignment in university. The group is given a topic and the members must produce a joint paper. This communique certainly deserves an A+ grade! These ministers were back in school, and they are acting exactly like university students – every aspect must be covered, and all sorts of idealism (or delusions?) and motherhood beliefs must be included for the assignment to score well.

But these are the foreign ministers of the most developed countries in the world! Who does not know the true “political” mindsets of the countries in this fraternity?

The communique began by underlying G7's strong sense of unity as the world navigates grave threats to the international system. Fair enough, it is a decent motherhood statement.

It covers everything under the sun. But it principally targets two countries: Russia and China – the former, condemnation for its aggression against Ukraine, and the latter, criticism for its behaviour in South China Sea and on Taiwan. Of course, the pariahs in the eyes – North Korea, Myanmar, Afghanistan, and Iran – were also not spared.

It also offers the usual motherhood pledge to uphold free and open international order based on the rule of law, reiterates the importance of a free and open Indo-Pacific and – in the light of ASEAN’s stance on regional geopolitics – reaffirms its unwavering support for ASEAN.

The communique also calls for cooperation and partnership of with every region in the world – the Middle East, Africa, Central Asia, and Latin and Caribbean America. It also talks about free and open international order, global governance, peace keeping and non-proliferation, economic resilience and economic security, development finance and infrastructure, outer space and cybersecurity, energy security, climate change, environmental degradation, Food security, nutrition, and humanitarian assistance, Global health, Gender Equality and Disaster-risk reduction, and off all things, countering foreign interference including disinformation (when the greatest culprit is the US!)

It is a wish list, and everything has been ticked.

Let me bring out the “China is Bad” part.

“It acknowledges the need to work together with China on global challenges as well as areas of common interest. “It is in the interest of all countries, including China, to ensure transparent, predictable, and fair business environments. Legitimate business activities and interests of foreign companies must be protected from unfair, anti-competitive, and non-market practices, including through illegitimate technology transfer or data disclosure in exchange for market access.

“We remind China of the need to uphold the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and abstain from threats, coercion, intimidation, or the use of force… We continue to raise our concerns with China on reported human rights violations and abuses, including in Xinjiang and Tibet. We reiterate our concerns over the continued erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy rights and freedoms, and call on China to act in accordance with its international commitments and legal obligations…”

Would China take all this rubbish? Sure, it hit back.

China straightaway expressed strong opposition and lodged stern representations to Japan, which hosted the function. China says the communique reflects the group's “arrogance, prejudice and deliberate desire to block and contain China”.

There are obvious divergences inside the bloc regarding Taiwan-related rhetoric. especially after Macron called for Europe not getting involved in the Taiwan question. Germany also seeks to engage with China, of course, the diehards like the US and Japan seek decoupling and containment.

Footnote: 

Hayashi Yoshimasa is Japan’s Foreign Minister. His name is written as 林芳正 in kanji (Chinese characters). It is obvious to me that he has strong Chinese heritage; however, nothing about this is mentioned now. When China and Japan were in better terms, he used to head an organisation that promoted good relationship with China. Straits Times even labelled him pro-China when he first joined Japan’s Cabinet. I suppose many have been Nipponized, like what you see in Taiwan.