By Wu Minwen
The annual Group of Seven (G7) summit kicked off in Hiroshima, Japan on May 19, which included the "Global South" as a topic. Prior to this, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa had launched a large number of diplomatic activities around this topic, and their intention to draw relevant countries into the geopolitical game is very obvious.
As the host country of this year's G7 summit, Japan sent its foreign minister Hayashi Yoshimasa to visit Latin American countries such as Mexico, Ecuador, Brazil and Argentina from January 4 to 11. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visited Egypt, Ghana, Kenya and Mozambique from April 29 to May 5 to step up their diplomatic campaign towards the Global South countries. Some commentators believe that the West has finally realized that it must strengthen its relationship with the Global South in order to achieve its goals on some issues.
Against the backdrop that the US has been implementing the "Indo-Pacific Strategy" through various alliances and factions to deal with and contain China's rise, the strengthening of relations between Western countries and Global South countries is also inseparable from the implementation of the "Indo-Pacific Strategy". At present, the US has made great progress in forming alliances and conducting military deployments in the Asia-Pacific. On this basis, its "Indo-Pacific Strategy" began to expand to other regions of the world.
The US and the West are building a circle to contain China in an all-round way. The G7 has shifted from an economic bloc to a camp of geopolitical games and confrontations. This year, Japan brought the Global South countries into the G7, while in essence, it is pulling Global South countries into the geopolitical game and strengthening the strength of itself and the camp. This is undoubtedly inconsistent with the demands and interests of Global South countries, and the impact is bound to be negative.
First, to hinder the development of the world towards multi-polarity. In recent years, through mechanisms and platforms such as the Belt and Road Initiative, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the BRICS countries, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), China has brought not only opportunities to the economic and trade development of Global South countries, but also reference for their self-governance and social development. Objectively, China has promoted the multi-polar development of the global pattern.
However, Western countries, accustomed to the hegemony logic and the Cold War mentality, are very nervous about this. The US has successively hosted the US-ASEAN Summit, Summit of the Americas, and US-Africa Leaders Summit since 2022, the main purpose of which is to strengthen its influence on Global South countries and push the international situation towards a US-dominated unipolar world.
Second, to provoke camp confrontation. When the West and the Global North countries strengthen their relations with Global South countries, they all use the banner of the so-called "free and open Indo-Pacific". This is a declaration of camp confrontation for the "Indo-Pacific Strategy". The intention of Western countries to include the ROK, Australia and other countries in the Global South is obvious, that is, to serve the Indo-Pacific Strategy.
Third, to maintain the hegemony of the Global North. "We will become the minority and the resolution of many policy issues will become meaningless, if we turn a blind eye to the Global South which plays an important role in the international community. We should work with the Global South to maintain an international order based on the rule of law," said Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during his visit to the US in January this year.
The reason why Western countries strengthen their relations with Global South countries is to drag those countries into the orbit of those Global North countries, thereby maintaining the hegemony of Global North countries. Countries in Global South should realize that as in the colonial history of the past, developed countries in the West had tried their best to invade and plunder Global South countries. For today, how could they possibly change the nature and turn into knights and philanthropists?
The biggest task facing the Global South countries is economic and social development, the foundation of which are the peace and stability. Western countries represented by the US are eager to draw Global South countries into the geopolitical game, ignoring their fundamental interests. It is very unkind and very immoral.
(The author is from the College of Information and Communication, PLA National University of Defense Technology.)
Editor's note: Originally published on zqb.cyol.com, this article is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information and opinions in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.
