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Cargo ships in southern China's Guagxi Province
Photo: He Wenhua / dpa
If the US has its way, the G7 summit should usher in a much tougher course against China's politics.
US President Joe Biden is pushing the merger of the leading western industrial nations as a counterweight to the growing influence of China.
But now the People's Republic is going on the offensive.
"The days when global decisions were made by a small group of countries are long gone," said a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in London.
All states, large or small, strong or weak, poor or rich, are the same.
"World political affairs should be settled through deliberations in all countries," said the spokesman.
Dealing with China was the central topic at the G7 summit on Saturday.
Among other things, a roadmap for dealing with authoritarian states such as China and Russia is expected in the final declaration.
The G7 group includes the USA, France, Japan, Germany, Great Britain, Italy and Japan.
The informal association dates back to 1975.
In the meantime, China has become the second largest economy after the USA.
With its New Silk Road infrastructure initiative launched in 2013, the government in Beijing wants to boost trade within Asia as well as with Europe and Africa.
Critics complain that they want to expand their influence on the global economy.
The G7 now want to counter the Silk Road project with a global infrastructure initiative and address human rights violations in China in their final communiqué at the Cornwall summit.
"It's not about confronting China," said a US official on Saturday on the sidelines of the G7 deliberations.
"But until now we haven't offered a positive alternative that shows our values, our standards and our way of doing business."
According to US officials, the goal is to provide hundreds of billions of dollars in public and private funds for investments in developing countries.
An anti-China alliance is tricky for the federal government: On the one hand, the People's Republic is one of Germany's most important trading partners.
Duisburg, for example, is one of the terminus of the Silk Road connections.
On the other hand, China is a competitor in the race for important raw materials.
The government in Beijing is now regarded as one of the most important investors in Africa, for example, and is securing large reserves of raw materials there.
mmq / Reuters