G8 leaders must seek a pragmatic approach to pressing problems

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev will be Russia's top representative at the G8 summit in the United States on Friday and Saturday, as newly elected President Vladimir Putin has said he is too busy to attend.

The G8 forum originated with a 1975 summit that brought together representatives of France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. This original group of six became seven the following year when Canada joined the group. With the discussions mainly focusing on global governance, major economic and financial issues, the seven countries sought to strengthen multilateral coordination to maintain the group's leading position in global affairs. Russia joined the forum's political discussions in 1994 and formally joined the group in 1997, completing the membership of the current G8.

The member states of the G8 are all globally powerful and have wielded decisive influence over major international issues in the past. But with the ongoing process of globalization and power rebalancing, the G8 no longer wields the same clout as it did.

This is a sign of the times. In 1981, the International Meeting on Cooperation and Development, the so-called North South Summit, was held in Cancun, Mexico. The North-South Summit was the first meeting on a global scale where the leaders of developed and developing countries gathered to discuss cooperation and development and the revitalization of the world economy. It was considered very important for the future management of the world economy but was totally controlled by the developed countries. But the situation has changed over the past 10 years, with the rise of developing countries such as China, India, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa. Since the US subprime crisis in 2008, the developing countries in the G20 have grown in importance and the G20 now is a relatively equal forum between emerging economies and traditional international powers. As former French president Nicolas Sarkozy admitted, any solution to major international issues cannot rule out the big emerging economies like China, India, and Brazil.

The G8 meeting this time faces many global uncertainties, including the sluggish pace of the global economic recovery, the necessary reforms of the international financial organizations, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, the rise of trade protectionism, and other major issues such as the European debt crisis. Given the fact that the G20 summit will be held in Mexico a month later, the situation may be improved if the eight powers can take a pragmatic and collaborative approach to facilitate a fruitful G20 meeting.

In the meantime, the discussion on whether China should join the G8, which was a hot subject of debate a few years ago, is a moot question. This is because, first, regardless of its rapid development and the fact it is now the second-largest economy in the world, China is still a developing country; second, China has plenty of effective channels like the UN Security Council, the G20 and the BRICS mechanism through which to participate in international policy and decision-making; third, China has been communicating and coordinating with G8 countries for years, particularly through the G20, and it's more representative and influential for China to stay in the G20 mechanism, rather than join the G8.

Meanwhile, Putin's absence has been considered a snub by some US media, who have suggested the Russian president doesn't want to pay a visit to the US because of the proposed NATO missile shield in Europe. It is noteworthy that US strategist Zbigniew Brzezinski recently called for NATO to enroll Russia as a member. While the US didn't like Putin being re-elected as Russian president, it has no other choice but to engage with Putin if the two countries are to "restart" relations.

The author is executive director of the Strategy Research Center of China International Studies Research Fund.

(China Daily 05/18/2012 page9)