Leaders of the G7 in Cornwall, England, this past June. Credit: Simon Dawson/No. 10 Downing Street/Flickr
At the G7 summit of industrialized countries in June, the headline deliverable was an agreement to develop a shared approach to China. This was supposed to be operationalized through a new global development program, awkwardly dubbed “Build Back Better World” (B3W), to rival China’s “Belt and Road Initiative” (BRI).
But reports of Western unity are exaggerated, and the shows of unity strain credibility. There is no evidence that B3W is anything more than a slogan. German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s farewell visit to Washington last month failed to produce any meaningful agreement on it — or even a statement of shared principles on a common China policy. Despite the Biden administration’s rhetorical focus on alliances, European states see a common interest in avoiding having to take sides in “Cold War II.” The chaotic American withdrawal from Afghanistan, which the EU opposed, has only highlighted the rift. As a result, despite their internal disagreements,
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