A tale of two summits: to the G7, China is an economic bully; to Central Asia, it is a vital partner
- Other than pointing fingers at China, the G7 summit achieved little compared with the China-Central Asia Summit, which showed the way in boosting cooperation and dialogue towards sustainable development
A separate G7 statement on economic resilience and security spoke of “a disturbing rise in incidents of economic coercion that seek to exploit economic vulnerabilities and dependencies and undermine the foreign and domestic policies and positions of G7 members as well as partners around the world”. It also lamented that economic coercion “undermines the functioning of and trust in the multilateral trading system” and “ultimately undermines global security and stability”.
But does the US care, and think about showing more respect for its allies and the international rules? Washington’s foreign policy has, for years, been based on insisting that others abide by the world order it dominates, while it gets to make exceptions.
Were all the other G7 members comfortable with the joint communique on China’s “economic coercion”? After all, they also have valued trade relationships with Beijing. So, perhaps the issue here is not so much China’s economic coercion as America’s delusion.
Standing in stark contrast to the G7 summit – which featured accusations aimed at China, but little in the way of substantive deals – was the China-Central Asia Summit.
This included 54 major cooperation consensuses and initiatives, 19 platforms proposed by China for multilateral cooperation and nine documents on multilateral collaboration. The six countries will also establish mechanisms for future meetings at both the leader and ministerial levels.
The summit outcomes covered fields such as transport, commerce, investment and industry, agriculture, energy, customs and people-to-people exchanges, and more, as China proposed to expand economic and trade relations, deepen connectivity, increase energy cooperation, promote green innovation, enhance development capabilities, strengthen dialogue and maintain regional peace.
China has become a key force in ensuring global security and stability, and in promoting technological and economic development. This makes cooperation with Beijing indispensable and important in achieving sustainable development. Deepening relations is in line with the fundamental and long-term interests of all six countries.
A weakened Russia leaves China with security gaps in Central Asia
Beijing seeks to engage with sincerity, and cooperate based on the principle of mutual benefit. China not only respects the development paths of different countries, but also considers the interests of its partners, with no strings attached to economic cooperation – and will not interfere in their internal affairs. China’s initiatives can bring about tangible benefits and are a win-win result.
If the pursuit of well-being and development based on mutual respect and trust, in accordance with the international order, counted as “coercion”, then maybe more countries would happily submit to it.
Wei Wei is the former chief correspondent of the Eurasian bureau based in Moscow of China Central Television, covering events in the states of the former Soviet Union