Hyderabad: The Group of Seven as it is known, G7 is an assemblage of the world's largest economies which includes Canada, France, the United States, Italy, Japan, Germany and the United Kingdom formed in the year 1975. It had expanded to G-8, with the inclusion of Russia, but was later expelled following its annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region.
Today, the G7 group represents 11% of the worldwide population, accounts for 58% of global net wealth ($317 trillion) and has more than 46% of the global GDP. The G7 countries are also important global trading partners to the world, about 1/3 of all exports worldwide come from one of the G7 states and 35% of all the goods and services imported have a G7 destination.
Now the G7 summit that has to take place in June is postponed till September and US President Donald Trump has decided to invite India, Russia, Australia and South Korea to the meet. What does this mean for India? Well India, is already a member of G20, a much powerful grouping and a body responsible for global governance.
The G-7 was expanded to the G-20 when the West realized after repeated recessions that global financial governance was not possible without including countries such as China, India, Turkey, South Africa, Australia and so on. Also many times the G7 has been overshadowed by G20 in recent years. The current American push for a new organization is an attempt to isolate China and split the G-20 which is responsible for 90 per cent of financial governance.
The major focus of the proposed summit of G7 would be to discuss with the G7 plus members on how to deal with the future of China. The US has recently released a new vision document on China in which it has directly accused the country of exploiting the rule-based world order and attempting to re-shape the international systems which would favour the interests and ideology of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
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The White House also released a report titled, ‘United States Strategic Approach to the People’s Republic of China’, declaring that it is “responding to the CCP’s direct challenge by acknowledging that the two major powers are in a “strategic competition and protecting” their “interests appropriately”. As already seen in the case of World Health Organization and Tariff War, ‘The New Cold War’ between the US and China that is looming at large over the international politics and the US may try to use the other international institutions dominated by it and its allies to tighten screws around China, which may continue in future too. But one has to wait and watch how the idea is received by different countries and what exactly the US plans to do by expanding the grouping.
As opined by the many experts India should not be swayed by the offer which appears as India would be placed in the same league as the developed countries and will join the privileged elite club. However, this is not generosity but a compulsion for the West to include India in the group and this would be another testimony to India’s rise as a power of consequence and deepening of ties between India and the US.
India has to maintain a balanced approach. While India should have no objection in joining the new club, it should not be pitted against China or Russia. India has a strong economic relationship with all the countries in G7 and the potential new ones like Australia and South Korea rather it could actually turn out this to be a useful platform to further intensify its links with these countries to revive its economic growth after the COVID-19 pandemic and lessen economic dependence on China. Moreover, it is better for India to wait and watch for the time being as one is not certain whether Trump will come back to power after the present term. If a new president joins the White House, terms of engagement might be different.
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Over period of time most of G7 economies have been declining and their strategic outreach somewhat decimated. As observed by the former ambassador Anil Trigunayat “Trump has been at loggerheads with virtually all of the G7 and trans-Atlantic partnership is under strain. Now that China has become US’s biggest punching bag at least until the elections Trump would want to have an expanded G7 +4”. Hence recognizing the strategic importance and imperatives for the USA’s Asia project especially in the context of Indo-Pacific he has proposed, as a host of next Summit, to invite Australia, India, Russia and South Korea. There might be a couple of other additions too, depending on his ever-evolving predilection.
As for Russia, Trump has felt their absence as the both the countries are working closely on various global hotspots while competing for strategic influence. According to him, “It will be recognition for India’s increasing international clout, importance and acceptability at the high table. Whether they will formally become the members remains to be seen but at this stage, it’s Trump’s brainchild and possibly the recognition of the limitations of G7. While he has given a different swing to the postponement of June Summit the fact is COVID 19 may have made the leaders cautious and rightly so since at the G20 they have only recently discussed the key issues and response to COVID ...the real and practical outcomes of which are still awaited.
G-7 an opportunity for Make in India
However, India's status as an economic powerhouse is not the sole reason why it ought to seek out a place at the high table. India could view a greater strategic alliance with the world's most economically prominent democracies as a key opportunity to fuel further growth, especially at the current juncture. The COVID-19 pandemic has led several companies towards a realization that de-coupling their supply chains from China may be necessary to mitigate risk arising out of natural and geopolitical disturbances.
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With India's economy also reeling from the effects of the pandemic, the government has introduced a series of measures geared towards making India a lucrative and safe proposition for foreign investors. A seat at the G-7 would go a long way towards solidifying India's commitment to fashioning itself as a key manufacturing destination in the coming years.
Within India's strategic interests
Although India has not been officially invited to join the grouping yet, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already accepted US President Trump's invitation to the upcoming summit, now slated to be held in September. Given the rising tensions between New Delhi and Beijing, stemming from what India believes is aggressive posturing and territorial intrusion at the LAC, it would be in India's interests to adopt a foreign policy stance premised on multilateralism over isolation, to counter-balance the military power- divide between itself and China.
Amid allegations that China has been less than forthright in its original disclosure of the extent of the outbreak, and US President's Trump's more recent assertion that China held too much influence over the WHO, India's neighbor’s geopolitical stock appears to be plummeting. The latest comments by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian, in response to US President's Trump's invitation to include an additional four nations to the G-7, seemed to be Beijing's admission of this. India has maintained that it is seeking a de-escalation of conflict at the LAC as its highest priority, but, nevertheless, it may currently be within its strategic interests to re-enforce its association with the group.
