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Joe Biden and Boris Johnson arrive at the G7 with their own agenda (Analysis)

2021-06-11T07:58:18.334Z


Biden and Johnson are eager to polish their credentials as good global guys, each coming to the G7 with their own needs. 


Biden wants to establish a global minimum tax 0:56

Carbis Bay, England (CNN) -

Carbis Bay in Cornwall, with its golden beaches and azure ocean, is one of the G7's premier real estate properties.

You may remember past peaks like those of Taormina, Sicily in 2017, or that of Biarritz, France, in 2019, but here we have the low temperature and the predatory gulls looking for a free lunch.

For generations, British tourists have flocked to the country's southwestern tip for its relaxing and restorative charm.

However, the traditional calm will change this week when the leaders of the world's richest democracies meet face to face for the first time in almost two years to solve our planet's problems, mainly global warming and the covid-19 pandemic. .

For Prime Ministers, Presidents and their advisers, there will be no recovery from the Cornish summer holidays, although they will all hope to leave encouraged in the belief that they have done good for us all, and in the way they love the most: around a table, not through a screen as happened at the G7 last year, because it had been scheduled to take place in the US and was canceled due to the pandemic.

Both the summit's host, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and US President Joe Biden, are eager to polish their credentials as good global guys.

Each brings their own bag of necessities: Johnson wants a global Britain and to be best friends with Biden, who in turn wants everyone's backing against China.

The Carbis Bay Estate hotel and beach, which will be the main venue for the G7 summit, is viewed from a drone in March.

Other attendees also have their own agendas, of course.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel values ​​America's leadership, but not as much as before.

French President Emmanuel Macron wants support in the Sahel region of Africa.

Yoshihide Suga of Japan shares many of Biden's concerns about China and has allies to help the 2021 Olympics happen. Italian Mario Draghi will seek the G7 to support stability in Libya and control of Mediterranean migration routes .

Canada's Justin Trudeau will likely sport a wry smile, recalling the 2018 G7 he organized and the chaos it caused when then-US President Donald Trump refused to endorse the final joint statement.

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However, by the time the leaders reach this mountainous English idyll, much of the script for this G7 and its final communiqué will already be written.

A big last step came just days ago when the G7 finance ministers agreed to back Biden's push for a global minimum 15% tax on corporate profits.

That does not mean that everything at the top is predetermined;

Trump was an object lesson in how nothing can be taken for granted.

  • Hundreds of former world leaders urge the G7 to vaccinate the poor against covid-19

Look at the G7 leaders made with e-waste 0:53

The G7 Goals and New World Facts

In February, the leaders met for a virtual G7 shortly after Biden took office.

They set general goals to "work together to defeat COVID-19 and rebuild much better again", as well as "accelerate the development and deployment of vaccines globally."

They also pledged to "put our global ambitions on climate change and reversing biodiversity loss at the center of our plans."

Since then, many more things have emerged around the world.

Belarus forced a civilian plane to land in transit, after which a Belarusian opposition journalist on board was arrested along with his Russian girlfriend.

Boris Johnson hosts a virtual meeting of G7 leaders in February.

Russia knowingly or unknowingly hosts ransomware attackers that recently shut down gas distribution pipelines in the United States.

The US eventually decided to withdraw military forces from Afghanistan, prompting similar departures by the allies.

Tehran has nearly run out of way negotiating Washington's reentry to the Iran nuclear deal and has tested the credulity of the global nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, to a breaking point.

And most worrying of all for Biden, China's strength - flying fighter jets and bombers around Taiwan, as well as its assertiveness in the South China Sea - has grown bolder and bolder.

Biden lands in England for his international tour 2:08

UK seeks support after Brexit

It's no wonder then that Biden, while not hosting this year's summit, has wanted to share the driver's seat of the G7, in which Johnson has been a seemingly willing partner in inviting important Indo-Pacific partners from United States - India, South Korea, Australia - to the G7.

The move received a nod of approval at the G7 foreign minister's meeting in London last month.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken praised the UK and thanked his counterpart Dominic Raab for "his leadership in building an incredibly strong agenda."

Johnson especially needs that support right now, amid post-Brexit disputes over Northern Ireland's trade rules with the European Union and Ireland.

Advisers hope the US president will convey his "crystal clear" belief that Brexit must not harm Northern Ireland's peace: A diplomatic speech to Johnson kept his word on the Brexit deal he agreed to.

Johnson and Biden plan their first face-to-face meeting Thursday before the other G7 leaders arrive, and Downing Street announced a renewed "Atlantic Charter," refreshing the one agreed between Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941.

Johnson hopes, of course, to enjoy being the center of attention.

The British Prime Minister plans to boost the UK's global credibility, with calls on the G7 to help fund women's education in developing countries, set ambitious targets for global distribution of the covid-19 vaccine for the purposes of 2022 and support an environmentally friendly reconstruction to the post-pandemic economy.

The prime minister will hope that a rebellion by some of his own parliamentarians in London challenging his government's cuts to the UK's foreign aid budget, from 0.7% of GDP to 0.5%, will not materialize and damage the generous personality who plans to project in Cornwall.

  • World leaders unite to call for a pandemic treaty: "No one is safe until we are all safe"

Security, cyber espionage and reinforced security for the G7

Meanwhile, Biden wants consensus and support to hold China accountable for human rights and other abuses.

He also plans to speak out against former G8 member Russia on cyber espionage and the increasingly authoritarian rule of President Vladimir Putin, who recently declared opposition group Alexey Navalny an "extremist" organization and excluded its members from politics. .

Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, emphasized the point at the White House press conference on Monday. “Ransomware is a national security priority, particularly when it comes to ransomware attacks on critical infrastructure in the United States, and we will treat it as such at the G7, we will treat it as such at every stop along the way of this journey. Sullivan said.

But despite the myriad of other topics, covid-19 will never be far from the minds of leaders.

The intense security protocols tested during the meetings of the G7 foreign ministers in May will be in effect, the rules are so strict that the Indian foreign minister ended up participating in the last sessions remotely after a possible close encounter with the coronavirus.

In addition to this, physical security is also a priority: Navy warships patrol the Cornish coast, beaches have been closed and thousands of police officers from across the UK recruited to seal off the area and keep protesters away. .

The G7 in Carbis Bay is an opportunity for the UK to shine.

So far the weather is playing its part, with sunshine and heat, at least by British standards, forecast for the weekend.

And while Cornwall is not Biarritz or Taormina, the stakes at this summit are much higher.

G7 Summit

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2021-06-11

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