Asia | Global summitry

Can the West win over the rest of the world?

The G7 wants to build a broader alliance to resist Chinese and Russian coercion

People walk down stairs displaying the logo of the upcoming G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors' Meeting at Niigata railway station in Niigata on May 10, 2023. (Photo by Kazuhiro NOGI / AFP) (Photo by KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP via Getty Images)
Image: Getty Images
|Tokyo

THE GROUP OF SEVEN (G7) began gathering after the first oil shock of the 1970s. In the ensuing decades the club of the world’s largest rich democracies led the way on global economic policy. But its relevance faded as its share of the global economy declined. In 2009 Barack Obama, then America’s president, declared that the G20, a broader grouping that includes China and other big developing countries, would become the pre-eminent forum; Donald Trump, his successor, went further, calling the G7 “outdated”. In the past year, however, the G7 has found a new sense of purpose amid another crisis, emerging as a forum for co-ordinating assistance to Ukraine and sanctions against Russia.

This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “Reviving the G7”

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