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The divided countries of East Asia seem to view being invited to the G7 summit as a sign of rising international status. Yoon Seok-yeol’s government, which aims to become a global hub state (GPS), is particularly obsessed with it. It was presented as one of the five main goals in the ‘National Agenda 120’ published in July 2022. GPS was defined as an ‘influential country’ in the affected countries and a ‘country that contributes to global prosperity’ wide’. Simply put, we want to become a globally influential country. Participating in the G7 summit appears to be included as a way of becoming a ‘respected country that fulfills its role and responsibility as a proud member of the international community.’
On the 19th, in Naples, when the G7 Foreign Ministers Meeting took place before the G7 Summit in Italy in June, university students who oppose the massacre of Israeli civilians in the Gaza Strip violently protest against the meeting. 2024.4.19. Yonhap EPA News
G7 Plus diplomacy gets awkward
Although President Moon Jae-in was invited to the Cornwall Summit 2021 in the UK for the first time, this may be why he has particularly emphasized his invitation to the Hiroshima Conference in Japan last year. He also revealed his bold ambition of ‘G7 plus diplomacy’. In his opening speech on January 12, Foreign Affairs Minister Cho Tae-yeol declared ‘diplomacy in the G7 Plus era’ as his second goal following integrated diplomacy in economic and security. “During my term, I will confirm our status as a G7 Plus candidate,” he said, and promised to bring all foreign policies in line with the “G7 level.” However, there was a clear look of confusion when Italy, the country of the chair for the 50th summit in June, excluded Korea from the invitation list. On the 19th, the President’s Office issued a press release explaining the reasons for not being invited. It may have been written in haste, but some parts with incorrect or processed facts are obvious.
It is true that the host country is chosen every year based on the interest agenda of the chair country. The ‘needs’ are reflected at a national level. The theme of this meeting presented by Italy is ‘Strategic Partnership with Africa’. This is why the leaders of South Africa, Kenya, Algeria, Egypt, and Tunisia were invited, as well as the chairman of the African Union (AU). The data said, “We understand that the target countries were chosen mainly based on African and Mediterranean issues related to the issue of immigration, and we respect this.” However, the fact that the nine countries invited included four non-African countries, including Argentina, Brazil, India, and Ukraine, was boldly omitted. They also hid the fact that not only Africa but also the Middle East crisis and the Ukraine war were big items on the agenda. “At the summits in France in 2015, Germany in 2017, and Italy in 2017, the invited countries included only African countries,” he said, and Iraq, which Germany invited in 2017, was eliminated completely
An Asian country that has been invited to the G7 summit.
At the same time, they could not hide their desire to be included in the G7. He pointed to reports from two American think tanks and emphasized that Korea is a candidate for G7 expansion. A report by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace last November titled “It’s time to think about a G9 that includes the successful democracies of Australia and Korea,” and a strategy that proposed including Korea in the G7 as a way to strengthen the alliance between the United States and Japan. ahead of the April 10 US-Japan summit. The suggestion to include middle powers in the G7 is not new at all. The Atlantic Council of the United States included Australia, Korea, and the European Union (EU) in the G7 when hosting the D-10 Democracy Forum 2014. India, Indonesia, Poland and Spain were invited as observer countries. It was not only raised at the level of the think tank.
The G7’s reluctance to expand is myopic, and Korea’s aspirations are even more pathetic.
US President Donald Trump proposed the membership of Australia, Brazil, India and South Korea, along with Russia’s return to the G7 in 2020. It was canceled as five countries, excluding Italy, opposed Russia’s re-entry into the G8. Russia has been a member of the G8 since 1997, but its membership was suspended after the annexation of Crimea in 2014, and it was officially banned in 2018.
The number of countries such as Korea, Mexico, and India that surpass G7 members such as Italy and Canada in terms of trade volume and gross domestic product (GDP) is increasing. Nevertheless, the fact that it is not being enlarged proves the stubbornness of the current member countries, who show resistance to enlargement. At the same time, it shows that the G7 is an outdated consultative body that does not reflect reality. The G7 has already transferred many of its functions to the G20, which was launched in 1999. The entity that discussed the global financial crisis of 2008 was the G20.
Hiroshima G7 Summit. 2023 05. 19 [AP 연합뉴스]
As for the cause of generational conflict in our society, the common belief that “because parents born in underdeveloped countries try to educate children born in developed countries” is exactly true in this case . This means that the thought leaders of underdeveloped countries try to educate the people of developed countries. Whether it becomes a G7 invited country or not, Korea’s status in the international community does not change much. Nevertheless, it is difficult to explain the desire to become a ‘plus’ country, similar to the G7, unless it is a form of ‘underdeveloped country syndrome’.
It was in 2011 that the G7 began to seriously invite leaders of non-member countries. This is interpreted as a recognition of the limitations of the current G7 and a basic feeling to provide diplomatic privileges to non-member countries. Like Italy this year, the ‘political needs’ of the country hosting the invitation were mainly the main motivation for the invitation. This is the background when France invited 11 African countries in 2011, and it was only in 2013 that the UK invited Ireland. Japan first invited six Asian countries, including Bangladesh, Indonesia, Laos, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, and Papua New Guinea, in 2016 and used it as a lever for Asian diplomacy. Two years later, Canada invited Vietnam and Bangladesh.
Is participation in the G7/NATO summit a diplomatic achievement?
The Asian country that has been a regular participant since 2019 is India. I have been invited to this meeting in Italy five times. Indonesia and Vietnam were invited three times in total. Korea is the second host country along with Bangladesh. If the number of participation in G7 meetings is a measure of global status, Korea would be behind India, Indonesia, and Vietnam, and tied with Bangladesh. How do we explain this to the people of the Republic of Korea, which has already become a developed country according to objective indicators? It is anachronistic for the government to emphasize participation in the G7 summit or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as a diplomatic achievement, calling it a GPS or a positive country.
President Yoon Seok-yeol greets NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit held in Vilnius, Lithuania on the 11th. 2023.7.11. random news
The theme of the summit is also one of the criteria for deciding which country to invite. The topic of the Cornwall Conference 2021, where the Korean president took part for the first time, was to overcome the spread of COVID-19. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson invited Korea, India, Australia, and South Africa, which were exemplary countries in responding to COVID-19, saying, “Let’s deepen the expertise and experience of the discussion.” Prime Minister Johnson’s theory was that the G7 should be expanded to the D-10.
As the twice-yearly invitation to the G7 summit falls through, the President’s Office emphasizes the fact that he has been invited to the NATO summit three times in a row so far this year. However, the countries invited to the NATO summit should also not forget that the priorities and needs of the United States, which leads NATO, are the criteria for a decision. Following the Madrid summit in 2022 and the Vilnius summit in 2023, the core agenda of the Washington summit in July is definitely the war in Ukraine and the crisis in the Taiwan Strait. Although it may be diversionary support, it is only natural that Korea, one of the main suppliers of artillery shells and weapons since the start of the war, is included.
The intention of the United States to strengthen connectivity between NATO and bilateral East Asian alliances was also reflected. Korea already participated in NATO’s Lisbon Summit for the first time in 2010. In addition, it is a NATO ‘global partner country’ along with Australia, Colombia, Iraq, Japan, Mongolia, New Zealand, and Pakistan. Unless the US changes its NATO strategy, the Korean president will continue to attend the summit even after the ‘GPS government’. This means that it is a decision that has nothing to do with the diplomatic capabilities of a global powerhouse. Talking about this through loudspeakers as a diplomatic achievement is a mockery of the people and an insult to the people. Rather than joining the agenda of the G7 or NATO, it would be practical to conduct summit diplomacy with our own agenda.
Leaders from various countries gathered at the BRICS Summit held at the Santon Convention Center in Johannesburg, South Africa on the 23rd. From left, Brazilian President Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva, Chinese President Xi Jinping, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov. 2023.8.23. Reuters Yonhap News
The golden time of BRICS diplomacy
What is more serious than the regressive thinking involved in attending the G7 summit and the NATO summit is that the reality of the emerging international society is being completely ignored. The economic status of the G7 and BRICS is expected to reverse starting in 2028. Based on price-adjusted gross domestic product (GDP), the share of the G7 fell from 45.7% in 1992 to 30.3% in 2022. In 2028, the G7 is expected to account for 27.8% and BRICS will account for 36.6%. Economic power is not everything in national relations. However, the attitude of clinging to the declining West and paying little attention to the rising BRICS is highly irresponsible. While the government is talking about GPS, the ‘golden time’ to diversify investment in BRICS is passing.
#summit #GPS #useless
