G7 kicks off with pledge on jabs, aid

G7 leaders Friday began their first in-person talks in nearly two years, with a pledge to donate one billion Covid-19 vaccine doses to poor countries on the agenda in a show of Western democratic cohesion.

The group of leading economies — Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and United States — say a joint approach is the world’s best chance for recovering from the global health crisis, and tackling climate change.

Welcomed by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to the summit venue in Carbis Bay, southwest England, the leaders posed for a photo before opening the session of talks on “building back better” after the pandemic.

The meeting presents a “huge opportunity” for global pandemic recovery, Johnson told his fellow leaders in his opening remarks, as they sat socially distanced and without masks.

US President Joe Biden set the tone, ditching Donald Trump’s isolationist stance to ram home a message of resolve by the G7 and NATO against both Beijing and Moscow, as he heads into his first sit-down with Russian President Vladimir Putin next week in Geneva. “I’m looking forward to reinforcing our commitment to multilateralism...,” Biden tweeted from the G7.

In a statement on Friday, the White House said the US and G7 nations are considering reallocating $100 billion from the International Monetary Fund’s warchest to help countries struggling most to cope with the Covid-19 crisis.

WASHINGTON/CARBIS BAY: A top Chinese diplomat on Friday condemned Washington’s “small circle” diplomacy, state media reported, in a phone call with US secretary of state Antony Blinken as G7 leaders met for their first in-person summit in nearly two years.

Yang Jiechi, the Chinese communist party’s chief diplomat, told Blinken that “genuine multilateralism is not pseudo-multilateralism based on the interests of small circles”.

“The only genuine multilateralism is that founded on the principles of the charter of the United Nations and international law,” Yang told Blinken, in their first one-on-one talks since acrimonious China-US discussions in Anchorage in March.

The phone call came as the leaders of the G7 group met with the challenge posed by China on the agenda.

The US administration of President Joe Biden has maintained a firm line against China, and hopes to rally allies to counter Beijing on trade, technology and human rights - particularly in the restive region of Xinjiang, where Washington has accused China of genocide.

Yang on Friday hit back against those claims, urging the US to “resolve its own grave human rights violations and not use so-called human rights issues as a pretext to arbitrarily interfere in the internal affairs of other countries”.

In Carbis Bay, reporters asked Biden what his message was for Russian leader Vladimir Putin, whom Biden is scheduled to meet with next week. Biden replied, “I’ll tell you after I’ve delivered it.”

Earlier, G7 leaders posed for a group photo. As they walked away, led by Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron threw his arm around Biden’s shoulder and began an animated discussion. Macron’s office later said the French leader and Biden discussed China, agreeing there should be no confrontation but Western democracies must defend their interests.