China speaks with authority at Italy summit

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-07-10 23:11

Beijing was first invited to attend a G8 summit in 2003 for "informal dialogue". A major question for Chinese foreign policy makers was how close the country should get to the rich nations' group and how it could make its voice heard.

"Now, though, attending the G8 is not a very important question for China, because there are other forums where it can exercise its influence and which are better suited to its interests," said Wang Yong, international studies professor at Beijing University.

The two forums that China has seized on over the past year as alternatives are the G20 group of industrialised and developing economies and the BRIC gathering of the world's biggest emerging markets.

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei, who leads the country's preparations for such international summits, was blunt before the meeting in Italy, saying that the G8 was "not representative enough" and that the G20 was better equipped to confront the financial crisis.

To be fair, the G8 has evolved to give China and four other developing countries a more permanent position within its architecture. But as the name of that wider grouping -- the G8 plus G5 -- suggests, the developing countries often feel more like adjuncts than equal partners.

The limits of China's enthusiasm were apparent in climate change talks when, along with India, it demurred on the goal of halving greenhouse gases by 2050. Part of Beijing's thinking was that the United Nations is the appropriate body for environmental negotiations, Chin said.

As for hammering out common positions among emerging markets, China has reason to prefer the BRIC forum where it meets with Brazil, Russia and India on their own initiative and time, rather than the G5 meeting conducted under the rich nations' gaze.

But do not write off the G8 entirely, said Andrew Cooper, associate director of the Centre for International Governance Innovation in Canada.

Once the emerging markets, led by China, coalesce into a more solid grouping, their natural interlocutor would be the G8.

"You could see these two caucuses trying to work out the pre-negotiation and pre-resolution of issues, and then coming together and having much more capacity to make decisions," Cooper said.

Previous page 1 2 Next Page