The Russian invasion of Ukraine has shaken the international table and has forced Western countries to strengthen their security strategies and global influence, as seen in the NATO summits in Madrid and the G-7 in Elmau in June ( Germany). The leaders gathered at both meetings affirmed the will to expand the international front of democracies not only against Russia but also against a great strategic competitor, China. The war launched by Vladimir Putin has increased the West’s distrust of the Asian giant, an attitude in which the European Union (EU) is increasingly participating and which is beneficial for the United States, which has long seen China as a rival .
At the summit under the German presidency of the G-7, the club of the seven most industrialized democratic countries -in which the EU participated, as usual-, it was agreed to encourage investment in infrastructure in developing countries where Chinese influence is already feel.
In Madrid, the 30 NATO countries defined Russia as a “threat” and China as a “systemic challenge” in their strategic document that puts the interests and values ??of the Atlantic Alliance at risk. In short, China is perceived as the great challenge of the 21st century.
At the Elmau summit, the G-7 leaders pledged to raise 600,000 million dollars (568,235 million euros) in public and private funds until 2027 to finance infrastructure in developing countries and thus offset the millionaire investment plans in African and Asian countries that China has promoted for years to project its influence.
In Madrid, NATO designed its new Strategic Concept, which replaces the one in force until now, agreed in Lisbon in 2010. The new text was born marked by the Russian aggression against Ukraine, for which it presents Russia as “the most direct threat and significant” for security in the transatlantic sphere and for the first time qualifies China as a “systemic challenge” for the bloc. In the 2010 text, the Atlantic Alliance classified Russia as a “strategic partner” and made little reference to China. “The deepening of the strategic alliance between the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation, with its complementary attempts to weaken the rules-based international order, goes against our values ??and interests,” reads the new Madrid Strategic Concept.
“I am increasingly convinced that the next two decades will be extraordinarily difficult for Europe,” says Marcel Dirsus, a political scientist at the University of Kiel. Putin could go, but there is no reason to suppose that his successor will be better; much of our growth depends on China and our main security provider is not exactly stable.
In addition to the seven members of the club (Germany, the United States, Canada, France, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom) and the EU, the G-7 summit in Elmau was attended by five other countries invited by the German presidency: Argentina, India, Indonesia, Senegal and South Africa. The invitation was extended before the war, but the West is courting them now to link them to its strategy before the war in Ukraine. India, Senegal and South Africa abstained in the vote on the UN resolution condemning the Russian attack. Putin also courts them; In a speech on June 22, the Russian leader advocated a greater role for the so-called BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) in the economic flows of countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
After the meeting of ministers of the G-20 – the group of industrialized countries and emerging economies – in Bali (Indonesia), the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, and the Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, held a bilateral meeting on Saturday . On leaving, Blinken questioned China’s neutrality in the face of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “Beijing says that it is neutral, but I tell them that it is very difficult to remain neutral in the face of such aggression,” said Blinken, who argued that China “continues to protect [Russia] in international organizations and echoes its propaganda.” The fight continues.
