Martin Jacques: G7 can no longer order the world around.

The G7 is no longer fit for purpose. Comprising the US, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Canada and Japan, in the 1970s the G7 was the overlord of the global economy. Today, the G7 is but a pale shadow of what it once was, reduced to the role of a declining faction within the global economy. It still talks in grandiose terms about its intentions, but the world has learnt to discount them….

Under Biden, as if to confirm its eclipse as a global institution, there is an ongoing attempt to reframe G7 as the representative and champion of the democratic world in the struggle against autocracy, shorthand for China. To this end, South Korea, India, Australia and South Africa have been invited to attend the G7 summit this week. There is even talk of the G7 becoming the D10 (D being a reference to democracy). This, however, would only serve to emphasize the declining authority of the G7: from global leader to ideological sect.

…Here we get to the heart of the crisis of the G7. It is the rise of China, above all else, that has transformed the global economy, sidelined the G7 and, at the same time, reconfigured the various G7 economies. Good relations with China are fundamental to the economic prospects of Germany, France and Italy. That is why they are opposed to the G7 becoming an anti-China crusade. So is Japan; and likewise would-be recruits such as South Korea and South Africa. Here laid bare, then, are the fault lines of the G7 and any potential extended membership. The West is divided and fragmenting. The authority of the US is in decline, no longer able to get its way as it once was….

The West, in contrast, has failed because its history has been precisely the opposite, one of colonization and the exploitation and subjugation of these countries. It has neither the experience, empathy nor motivation that is required. The existential gap between the rich Western world and the developing world is a multidimensional chasm.

A dramatic example of the West’s indifference to the needs of the developing world will be on full display at the G7 summit. Although the US and UK, and increasingly Western Europe, have vaccinated a majority of their populations against COVID-19, the UK, to take one example, has not exported a single dose of vaccine to the developing world. It has kept all its vaccines for itself, even though its existing stock far exceeds its own future needs….

The author was until recently a Senior Fellow at the Department of Politics and International Studies at Cambridge University. He is a Visiting Professor at the Institute of Modern International Relations at Tsinghua University and a Senior Fellow at the China Institute, Fudan University. Follow him on twitter @martjacques. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202106/1225664.shtml

As predicted, a bunch of AngloSaxon racists plus a Japanese Banana put up a show good for nothing.

SCMP: In politics as theatre, symbols and allegory were everywhere. As home to the mythical 12th-century King Arthur, Cornwall provided a fine setting for a grand “round table”, even without a Merlin to work miracles.

The clearest symbols were Churchillian rather than Arthurian – fitting, given the role Winston Churchill plays in Johnson’s political psyche. They were articulated in the 604-word new Atlantic Charter released by Biden and Johnson ahead of the Carbis Bay meeting. Johnson was explicitly harking back 80 years to the August 1941 meeting between Franklin Roosevelt and Churchill in Placentia Bay in Newfoundland at which the original Atlantic Charter was agreed.

Churchill arrived aboard the HMS Prince of Wales, and it was no accident that Britain’s newest aircraft carrier, the £3.3 billion (US$4.7 billion) HMS Prince of Wales, stood guard over Carbis Bay as Biden and Johnson unveiled their new Atlantic Charter.

The original charter, drafted just four months before Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbour brought the US formally into World War II, not only sits at the heart of the UK-US “special relationship”, but forged many of the West’s foundational principles for the rest of the century. It led to the creation of Nato and the Gatt – the precursor to the World Trade Organization – and its call for self-determination began the process of dismantling the British Empire.

The new Atlantic Charter may not leave such an enduring legacy, but there is a nerve-jangling sense that it is firmly focused on a new and different war ahead – in defence of liberal democracy as a superior political model, and against China as a challenger to the liberal democracies that have led world affairs for the past 80 years.

The new Atlantic Charter may not leave such an enduring legacy, but there is a nerve-jangling sense that it is firmly focused on a new and different war ahead – in defence of liberal democracy as a superior political model, and against China as a challenger to the liberal democracies that have led world affairs for the past 80 years.

When it comes to politics as theatre, the UK is a hard act to follow. And Prime Minister Boris Johnson in Carbis Bay in Cornwall over the weekend was a class Shakespearean act. Or was it Churchillian? Or Arthurian?

In short, it is high on moral fervour and short on specifics, and anxiously self-aware that many regard the G7 as a yesteryear organisation, overshadowed by the G20.

Johnson choreographed a G7 summit that all will remember. He may not succeed in restoring the G7 to its original Cold War glory, when its members (the US, Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Japan and Canada) accounted for 59 per cent of world GDP (they account for 45 per cent today) and walked with a swagger, confident that they could shape the world in the image of Western liberal democracy. But he has given it a good shot.

He deserves credit for making the G7 summit a memorable, watershed event; a striking “coming out” celebration for Joe Biden in his first presidential sortie outside the US; an assertion of “Global Britain” as it sets out on its Brexit future; a surprisingly strong affirmation of the US-UK “special relationship”; and a fitting launch pad for the UK’s “main event” in November when, in Scotland, he will host the COP26 climate summit. Whether it provides foundations for a future “alliance of democracies” has yet to be seen.

For Biden, throw in a dinner with Queen Elizabeth, a summit with the European Union and Nato, and a snake-pit encounter with Vladimir Putin, and we are witnessing a striking repudiation of “America first” and a credible affirmation that Donald Trump’s wilderness years are firmly past.

As Biden told American troops at the Mildenhall Royal Air Force base after landing in the UK: “The United States is back and the democracies of the world are standing together to tackle the toughest challenges and issues that matter most to our future.”

What it really meant is the AngloSaxon + 1 want to be AngloSaxon Country: Japan, after the show and photo opts came up empty but still lies about it. These people with Cold War mentality will ends up destroying their countries and people with it just like COVID19. 它真正的意思是西人+ 1 那個想要成為西人國的小日本，做完秀和大合照後一事無成，但仍然是張大眼睛説謊言。 這些具有冷戰心態的領導人最終會像新冠病毒一樣摧毀他們的國家和人民。

New York Times BREAKING NEWS: President Biden said G7 leaders agreed on initiatives to counter Chinese influence. But nations failed to decide on a timeline to eliminate coal use.

Sunday, June 13, 2021 10:53 AM EST
Wrapping up their first in-person summit since the outbreak of the pandemic, leaders of the world’s wealthiest nations released a joint communiqué, underscoring areas of solidarity — and the differences that remain — when it comes to tackling a host of global crises.

SCMP: A most egregious abuse of state power by United States you have never heard of 南華早報：你從未聽說過的最惡劣的美國濫用國家權力的行為 by Alex Lo, June 13, 2021

Since June last year, Venezuela’s special envoy, Alex Saab, has been fighting extradition to the United States while being detained with untreated cancer in the island nation of Cabo Verde, off the coast of West Africa. Under apparent pressure from the US, neighbouring African countries denied landing to his plane and forced it to refuel on the archipelago where he was arrested.

Since June last year, Venezuela’s special envoy, Alex Saab, has been fighting extradition to the United States while being detained with untreated cancer in the island nation of Cabo Verde, off the coast of West Africa. Under apparent pressure from the US, neighbouring African countries denied landing to his plane and forced it to refuel on the archipelago where he was arrested.

The US has charged Saab with money laundering. Last week, the United Nations’ Human Rights Committee issued a decision demanding that Saab’s extradition be suspended and that he be given proper medical treatment. This follows another decision by the Economic Community of West African States Court of Justice, based in Nigeria, to free him in March.

The Republic of Cabo Verde doesn’t have an extradition treaty with the US. Instead, it claims it was responding to an Interpol arrest notice but the notice was only issued after Saab’s arrest. Cabo Verde’s own court has ruled that Saab can be extradited, an order currently being appealed by his legal team. The US Navy has stationed the cruiser USS San Jacinto off the island state since December, ostensibly in response to Venezuela’s threat to rescue Saab. But it looks more like intimidation to make sure Cabo Verde doesn’t get cold feet and release Saab.

When Belarus last month forced the landing of a Ryanair flight in its capital Minsk to arrest dissident journalist Roman Protasevich, the West was outraged. Many people thought it was unprecedented.

But some mainstream news outlets recalled a precedent when the United States, with the help of European allies, forced the official plane of Bolivia’s then-president Evo Morales to land in Vienna in July 2013 because US intelligence suspected, mistakenly, that it was carrying Edward Snowden. The American whistle-blower left Hong Kong and arrived in Moscow the same time Morales was on a Russian visit.

But few media groups mentioned the forced landing of Saab’s plane. Why? Whenever the US accuses another country of doing a terrible thing, you can be sure it has already done much worse. Here’s extradition as foreign policy: Julian Assange, Meng Wanzhou and now Saab. All that time, the US has been out to destroy the WikiLeaks founder, Huawei and the Maduro regime.

‘The Last G7’: Satirical cartoon mocking bloc’s attempt to suppress China goes viral by Global Times Jun 13 2021

A Chinese cartoonist’s political satire, which mocked the Group of Seven (G7) members that attempt to suppress China, went viral on Chinese social media on Sunday, when the G7 summit was underway in Cornwall, the UK.

Titled The Last G7, the illustration, published by its author “Bantonglaoatang” on Sina Weibo on Saturday, was painted based on the renowned religious mural The Last Supper. This G7 summit is widely seen as an attempt by the US to rally allies against China.

Similar to the final meal Jesus shared with his apostles before his crucifixion that The Last Supper depicted, Bantonglaoatang painted a vivid picture of nine animals – respectively representing the US, the UK, Italy, Canada, Japan, Germany, France, Australia and India – sitting around a table with a Chinese-map-shaped cake on it. On top of the painting is the words in quote: Through this we can still rule the world.

These animals have different facial expressions and gestures, implying that each side of the G7 actually has its own axe to grind on the common conspiracies of suppressing China and upholding the Western hegemony, analyzed some observers and Chinese netizens.

Wearing a bowler hat with an American flag on it, a bald eagle sits in the middle like Jesus in The Last Supper, obviously the convenor of the meal. In front of the bald eagle there is a small banknote printing machine and a bill on the table. The machine is printing toilet paper into dollars, and the number on the bill gets bigger and bigger – from $2 trillion to $8 trillion.

There is also an iron hook under its feet, and two pieces of cotton with blood near its hands on the table, suggesting “the US’ capital accumulation was built on racial oppression,” a vlogger nicknamed “sharp-tongued pumpkin” said in his latest video analyzing the illustration, which has gained over 700,000 views on video streaming platform Bilibili within a day after he uploaded it on Saturday afternoon.

The bald eagle image shows today’s aggressive yet feeble US is trapped in its growing debt crisis and racial conflicts, but still points fingers at China, “sharp-tongued pumpkin” pointed out.

Sitting on the left of the bald eagle is a grey wolf, wearing a cap with an Italian flag on it. The wolf waves its hands as the apostle Andrew in The Last Supper, as if saying “No” to the US’ suggestions of jointly cracking down on China. The grey wolf image shows Italy, the first European country that joined China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), is reluctant to collaborate with the US in suppressing China, commented “sharp-tongued pumpkin.”

Next to the wolf is an Akita dog that represents Japan. Without a seat, it is busy serving the others a “drink” – pouring green radioactive water into the glasses of the other animals. On Weibo some users said the green water is the contaminated water that Japan plans to release to the Pacific from the destroyed Fukushima nuclear plant.

Sitting next to the dog is a kangaroo, which is stretching its left hand to the banknotes that the US is printing, while grasping a bag in its right hand. The kangaroo symbolizes the double-faced Australia which actively cooperates with the US in containing China, but is also eager to earn money from China, its largest trading partner, according to “sharp-tongued pumpkin.”

On the left corner stands a black hawk, which obviously represents Germany as its pose is almost the same as that of the German Chancellor Angela Merkel in a widespread photo in the G7 summit in 2018. Germany, similar to the rooster (representing France) sitting in silence on the right side, seems more interested in its own European issues and shows less enthusiasm on the US’ propaganda, netizens found.

On the right side of the table also sits a lion and a nutria, respectively representing the UK and Canada, both the US’ close Five Eyes allies. The nutria, wearing a red coat with images of marijuana on it, holds a doll in its hand. Many netizens believe the doll represents Huawei’s chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, who is still unreasonably detained in Canada.

On the right corner of the table sits an elephant (representing India) that is on a drip like a patient.

Under the table there is a frog holding banknotes in its hands, trying to jump as high as possible to reach the table and give the money to the US. The little frog symbolizes the separatist authority from the island of Taiwan, which is always subservient to the US, some netizens pointed out.

The illustration caused a stir on Weibo on Sunday, with numerous users praising the author for vividly and straightforwardly revealing the evil intentions of the West that tries to lay a siege to China. “But this is perhaps their ‘last supper,’’’ one user mocked. “With different positions, for various interests of their own, these countries and regions can’t form a real league against China.”

Leisure afternoon with friends to discuss the challenges of US-China relationships
https://youtu.be/FVLizG-VnWk
https://www.facebook.com/100036400039778/posts/509816753574988/?d=n

Video: After passing the HK homeland security law, NED backed activities have been seriously curtailed. 警察公共關係科人員在旺角一帶現場直播最新情況
https://youtu.be/PyRK_pByfK8
https://www.facebook.com/100036400039778/posts/509555223601141/?d=n

The happy secret next door – 120,000 + 2 (you and your love ones) Hong Kong people have retired to Guangdong 隔壁的幸福秘密 – 12萬+2（你和你的愛人）港人已退休到廣東

By FRIDAY WRITERS 10 Jun 2021

OLDSTERS: WOULD YOU like a comfortable, safe, city-center apartment for just HK$5,000 a month? No, you haven’t died and gone to heaven. You’ve moved to Guangzhou.

More than 120,000 Hong Kong people aged 60 plus have already moved to that city or elsewhere in Guangdong province.

Others will follow. A lot of older people in Hong Kong are willing to retire to other Greater Bay Area cities, a study by the One Country Two Systems Youth Forum revealed. Popular destinations include Guangzhou and Foshan.

The northward migration will likely rise in the coming years. By 2069, nearly 40 per cent of Hong Kong’s population will be seniors, the Census and Statistics Department says, and literally millions of people will be looking for retirement destinations.

Dong Shan Hu Park in Guangzhou; picture by Lychee Art/ Unsplash

WHAT’S ON OFFER?

What’s so attractive up there? Guangdong offers larger homes at much lower prices, plus a lower cost of living and well-established cross-boundary transportation links. Furthermore, there are affordable elderly care homes across the border.

Even in super-pricey Shenzhen, where prices have soared, the average home is less than half the price of a Hong Kong equivalent. A leading property consultant CBRE survey last year listed Shenzhen property as averaging US$783 (RMB 5,006) a square foot, compared to US$1,987 (RMB 12,705) per square foot in Hong Kong.

Property ads for Hong Kong style Guangzhou apartments from Joanna Real Estate

BUY YOUR OWN

Good relations between the two governments means that Hong Kong people have the right to buy a flat in Shenzhen. And in recent years, Shenzhen flats have proved to be good investments, rising 88% since 2015.

The low prices mean that middle or even low-income families in Hong Kong are exploring the wider Greater Bay Area for their next property investment, either for a holiday home or a place for retirement.

Zhaoqing and Jiangmen have the lowest home prices among Greater Bay Area cities. Homes in those two locations are about one eighth of the equivalent price in Shenzhen.

In some residential complexes in the region, neighbourhoods have become infused with Hong Kong culture, so you’ll find your favorite foods and familiar product brands too. Cha-siu faan? Macaroni soup? Ham and egg sandwich? You’ll find them on the menu.

TOP FACTORS

What are the key factors to help Hong Kong people decide to move north? Presence of relatives in the bay region is the main criterion for getting the early adopters to make the switch, said 57.9% per cent of the retirees who responded to the survey.

About 40% of respondents said they would retire in the bay region if they could access welfare services from the mainland, while 33% said they would move to the region if they could get access to quality healthcare services.

For 24% of respondents, the key was whether they could receive social welfare from Hong Kong. Transport issues were a key consideration for 17%, and 9% were looking at property purchase issues.

Senior citizens often prefer village life to the city bustle. Picture by Jaddy Liu/ Unsplash

CASH FROM HONG KONG

You can move over the border and still get Hong Kong government cash. About 20,000 Hong Kong elderly people have benefited from the SAR government’s schemes in which monthly welfare payments, ranging from HK$1,400 to HK$3,800, are sent across the border to Guangdong and Fujian.

The number of participants would be larger, except for the fact that elders who join the Guangdong and Fujian schemes need to surrender their public housing flats in Hong Kong—and many would rather not do that.

Also, Hong Kong seniors in the mainland can only use their home city’s medical vouchers at The University of Hong Kong – Shenzhen Hospital. Because of this, some will travel back to Hong Kong when suffering from serious illnesses.

The University of Hong Kong’s Shenzhen Hospital and International Medical Center

SMOOTHING THE PATH

But there’s room for improvement. It may be worthwhile for the SAR authorities to consider streamlining procedures to allow local elderly people to access social welfare cash, without the need to surrender public housing, or to reside in the mainland for at least 60 days a year.

Guangzhou looks like older Hong Kong: Lychee Art/ Unsplash

Above all, elderly people should be allowed to use medical vouchers in top-notch “AAA” hospitals in the Greater Bay Area cities. Through qualification mechanisms, Hong Kong and Mainland authorities should ensure that at least one hospital in each GBA city could accept the voucher, thus providing more medical options.

It would be great for retirees to be able to live their final years more comfortably and less expensively – and if they move out of Hong Kong, they’d help free up space in our crowded home. Everybody wins.

Video: Craig Murray – former UK Ambassador discuss how UK used fake news to fool her people to start Iraq war, why US invaded Afghanistan… 克雷格默里 – 前英國大使討論英國如何利用假新聞愚弄她的人民發動伊拉克戰爭，為什麼美國入侵阿富汗….
https://vimeo.com/562202352
https://youtu.be/jT-uHOgocb4
https://www.facebook.com/100036400039778/posts/509459706944026/?d=n

International order is not based on a so-called system and order advocated by a handful of countries: Chinese Embassy in the UK by Global Times Jun 12 2021

(From L to R, Front) Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, U.S. President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, (From L to R, Rear) European Council President Charles Michel, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, stand for a family photo during the Group of Seven (G7) Summit in Carbis Bay, Cornwall, Britain, on June 11, 2021.

Genuine multilateralism is based on the principles of the UN Charter and international order, not pseudo-multilateralism serving the interests of a small clique or political bloc, a spokesperson from the Chinese Embassy in the UK said while refuting the so-called rules-based international system advocated at the G7 Summit held in Cornwall, UK.

“We always believe that countries, big or small, strong or weak, poor or rich, are equals, and that world affairs should be handled through consultation by all countries. The days when global decisions were dictated by a small group of countries are long gone,” the spokesperson was quoted as saying in a statement published on the embassy’s website on Saturday.

His remarks were made in response to the US seizing this opportunity in the G7 in the hope of bonding with other Western countries and safeguarding the so-called rules-based international system.

There is only one system and one order in the world, that is, the international system with the United Nations at its core and international order based on international law, not a so-called system and order advocated by a handful of countries.

There is only one set of rules for the world, that is, the basic norms of international relations based on the principles of the UN Charter, not the so-called rules formulated by a small number of countries, said the spokesperson.

He said that there is only one kind of multilateralism, that is, the genuine multilateralism based on the principles of the UN Charter and international law, featuring equal treatment, cooperation and mutual benefits, not pseudo-multilateralism serving the interests of a small clique or political bloc.

It is our hope that relevant countries will take concrete steps to uphold the principles of the UN Charter, take the initiative to safeguard the core role of the UN, and make real efforts for an early victory over the coronavirus, to respond effectively to climate change and to work for a robust global economic recovery, the spokesperson noted.