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A woman walks past the banner of the Group of Seven (G7) summit at the media center in Bari, Apulia Region, Italy, June 12, 2024. Photo: Xinhua

The fact that G7 Apulia Leaders’ Communiqu mentioned China over 20 times is no surprise to Chinese analysts, who said the elaborately crafted hypocritical declaration reveals the US-led West’s attempts to shift blame to China, while the US aims to lay the groundwork for future camp confrontation.

At the same time, the G7 summit had invited countries from the Global South to the summit, including Argentina, South Africa, Brazil, and India. Experts pointe[Today's Headlines]d out that it will be [Today's Headlines]difficult for the US and Western powers to divide the Global South with their ambitions for hegemony.

Within the G7 Apulia Leaders’ Communiqu which was published on the White House website on Friday, China featured as one of the major targets. The G7 baselessly laid accusations at China in several areas, including the Ukraine crisis, climate crisis, cyber security, the Taiwan question, the South China Sea, and human rights issues, mentioning China more than 20 times throughout the document. The G7 vowed to counter “the wave of cheap high-tech products” from China and take action against Chinese financial institutions that “support Russia.” The G7 also expressed concerns about China’s “[Today's Headlines]overcapacity,” and threatened to retaliate China through export restrictions.

This shifting-responsibility declaration once again proves that the G7 has become a tool for the US to engage in global geopolitical competition, Li Haidong, a professor at the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Saturday. The US is trying to promote its fabricated international consensus that “China should be held accountable for all crises,” in order to lay the groundwork for its more intense present and future competition.

G7 member countries, out of geopolitical considerations, have followed the US in accusing China, showing no independent strategy in front of the US, Li noted. This is detrimental to the future security environment for the G7 members and for the wider international community.

Observers pointed out that the leaders of the countries participating in the G7 summit are all facing domestic support rate crises or election pressure, with some having recently suffered defeats. The G7 is trying to shift blame and scapegoat China in a number of ways, in attempt to redirect the dissatisfaction of the public and voters in their own countries toward China, Li said. “This is a very typical and insidious political maneuver.”

At the same time, many countries from the Global South were invited to participate in the G7 summit. It is obvious that the G7 is trying to win over Global South countries and sow division within them, Li noted.

However, these emerging countries can see through the selfish alliances led by the US and the West. It will be difficult for the US and the G7 to divide and conqueror when it comes to the Global South, he said.

Among the various issues addressed in the joint declaration, the Russia-Ukraine conflict was the most important element. Following the conclusion of the G7 summit, some leaders will immediately travel to Switzerland to participate in the Ukraine Peace Summit on Saturday and Sunday.

Interconnecting the two summits demonstrates the dominant camp, confrontation, and alliance thinking of the West in handling international affairs, Li said. “They are trying to divide the world into different camps using the Ukraine crisis as an opportunity. In fact, this approach not only fails to solve the Ukraine crisis itself, but also poses a threat to global security in a broader region. Such an arrangement by the West is actually very inappropriate.”

Zhang Hong, an associate research fellow from the Institute of Russian, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, pointed out that the G7’s attempt to smear China in the context of the Russia-Ukraine conflict is a tactic employed by the US to gain a competitive edge globally.

“It is completely unreasonable to attribute the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict to normal China-Russia trade when all countries around the world continue to engage in trade with Russia,” he told the Global Times on Saturday. “This overlooks the fact that irresponsible actions by Western countries have exacerbated the losses suffered by Ukraine.”