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President Biden sought to refocus the G7 summit on China and infrastructure on Saturday as he met face-to-face with French President Emmanuel Macron in his only formal bilateral meeting that day.
“Things are going, I think, okay,” Biden said relaxed, staring at the bright sunlight while the blue waters of Carbis Bay gleamed in the background. “As we say in the United States, we’re on the same page.”
Macron noted some of the hot issues – including climate change and the pandemic, but not the ongoing conflicts with China – the G7 nations are grappling with.
“On all of these issues, what we need is cooperation,” Macron told Biden. “And what it shows is that leadership is partnership.”
But the warm exchange came shortly after deep divisions emerged within the group of leaders of the world’s largest industrial democracies over Biden’s call to denounce China’s anti-democratic policies — including forced labor in Xinjiang and the persecution of Uighurs and other minorities, CNN reported. .
Biden has been vocal in his support for the European Union
Internet access to the conference room was cut off at one point to ensure the confidentiality of the discussion, which a White House official called “some interesting discussions.”
“There was … quite a bit of a divergence of opinion, not on whether that threat existed but about how strong” the group’s response to it was, the official said.
The official said that while the United States, Britain and Canada have called for outright condemnation of Chinese authoritarianism, members of the European Union have rejected it.
It is likely that the dispute will not be resolved until Sunday, when the group will issue a statement summarizing the results of the summit.
President Joe Biden walks with First Lady Jill Biden on the first day of the G7 Leaders Summit on June 11, 2021. Bloomberg via Getty Images
Meanwhile, members agreed to launch a US-led global infrastructure program aimed at wooing poor countries that have deepened their ties with China through Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative.
The proposal—dubbed “Building Back Better for the World,” or B3W, to repeat Biden’s previous campaign slogan—calls for hundreds of billions of dollars in public and private cash to be spent in low-income countries for climate projects, health initiatives, digital technology, and programs.” equity and gender equality.
Queen Elizabeth II speaks with President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden. POOL / AFP via Getty Images
China’s trillion-dollar Belt and Road program has funded multiple projects – generally focusing on hard infrastructure such as airports, roads and ports – across Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
“It’s not about making countries choose between us and China,” a senior administration official told reporters late Friday. “It will not just be an alternative to the Belt and Road Initiative, but we believe it will overcome the Belt and Road Initiative by offering a higher quality option.”
However, post-Brexit trade disputes between Britain and its former EU partners threaten to overwhelm Biden’s ambitious agenda.
The G7 leaders met in Cornwall, England, on June 11, 2021
Biden’s conversation with Macron came hours after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson held a series of morning meetings with Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other European Union members to resolve rising tensions over Northern Ireland and its land border with the recently abandoned trade bloc Britain.
Johnson called for “compromise on all sides” to end the ongoing trade row, which has isolated the region behind onerous trade barriers and led to a resumption of separatist violence there.
“Currently, the protocol is having a detrimental effect on the people of Northern Ireland,” a spokesman for Johnson said. “We need to find urgent and innovative solutions.”
Biden was vocal in his support for the European Union when he began his one-on-one meeting with Macron.
“Personally, I think the European Union is an incredibly strong and dynamic entity,” he said, calling it “the backbone and support of NATO.”
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