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US-China relations
Opinion
Shi Jiangtao
Shi Jiangtao

Opinion | The G7 takes a stand on China but how long will it matter?

  • Beijing was not even an afterthought when the group was launched more than four decades ago
  • Now the two parties are adversaries and the world is moving towards another cold war

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The Hiroshima G7 summit was a success for Japan. Photo: AP
Shi Jiangtao
Japan emerged as a clear winner of the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima by successfully focusing global attention on what Tokyo identifies as the top security challenges in the Indo-Pacific: China and Russia.
While the summit marks Japan’s return to the world stage as a geopolitical power, it is unclear how the G7 members will ensure the summit’s long-term relevance and how they will enforce their joint pledges to counter Beijing on Taiwan, its quasi-alliance with Moscow and its alleged economic intimidation.

The event was a setback for Beijing, bringing together the seven industrialised nations and many of China’s neighbours on its doorstep, and was dubbed by many as an anti-Chinese event.

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Despite US President Joe Biden’s seemingly confident prediction on Sunday of a coming thaw in ties with Beijing, it is still too early to tell what the future holds for an accelerating new cold war between the two superpowers.

But one thing is certain. The Hiroshima summit, which saw the expansion of the US-led coalition with like-minded nations against China and Russia, will significantly exacerbate distrust and enmity between China and Japan and set the arch-rivals on a collision course.

It has also marked a new low in China’s long and complex relations with the club of the rich nations, ties that date back to the group’s founding in 1975.

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