Meeting at the Carbis Beach Hotel near St. Ives in Corwall Southwester Great Britain, 78-year-old President Joe Biden arrived at the G7 hoping for a welcoming reception after four years of 74-year-old President Donald Trump. Biden thought his “America’s back” slogan played well with European allies, expecting to lead a unified coalition against human right abuses in China and Russia. Biden found out quickly that he didn’t have many takers other that the somewhat isolated U.K. when it came to taking a tough stand on Russia and China. U.K.’s 56-year-old Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who hosted the G7, backed Biden’s hawkish views of Russia and China but found few other takers, showing that the Brussel’s-based European Union [EU] has come a long way finding its own identity. Whether admitted to or not, Biden’s looked at as a geriatric American leader.
Unlike Trump, that provoked strong reactions from the transatlantic partnership, Biden’s given deference for his many years on the world stage but always in a subordinate role to former President Barack Obama. Now that he’s president, Biden’s not getting the reception his handlers wanted. Most of the G7 leaders aren’t interested in re-litigating the Cold War, fighting old battles, especially with economic dependencies on China and Russia. While overall trade with China is far greater than Russia, the EU buys about 40% of its petroleum and natural gas from the Russian Federation. Germany and Russia are nearing completion of the $12 billion Nord Stream Pipeline, bringing natural gas from Russia to Germany into the foreseeable future. When it comes to German, French, Belgium and Netherlands manufacturing, China has become a valuable resource to the EU’s economy.
Biden’s 58-year-old Secretary of State Antony Blinken hoped to persuade European allies to take the high road against China when it came to human rights. Trump left the human rights arguments to university professors while he played the real politik sticking to only business and trade relations. Since taking office Jan. 20, Biden and Blinken have been on their high horses, lambasting Russia and China for variety of human rights abuses. With all the business ties with China, the EU wants no part of Biden’s new Cold War with Russia and China. “There’s a little differentiation. I think I would say, within—within, I think, the spectrum of how hard they would push on some of these issues,” said an unnamed Biden official. Biden’s foreign policy team thought he could dictate a foreign policy agenda to his European counterparts. Biden found Europeans have a different agenda than the U.S.
Whether admitted to by Boris Johnson or Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, they too are not interested in picking useless fights with Russia and China. “The disagreements aired during a session that at one point became so sensitive that all Internet was shut off to the room, pitted European nations against the United States, Britain and Canada. It’s doubtful that Biden persuaded his EU colleagues to back a joint communiqué that condemns China’s action against Muslim Uyghurs in Western China and oppression of pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong. Macron, before the summit, said Europeans weren’t interested in a “return to [the logic] of the Cold War,’ signaling that EU colleagues would oppose condemning China of its treatment of Muslim Uyghurs or Hong Kong protesters. Macron said the EU would “neither to be vassalized by China nor to be aligned on the subject with the United States of America.”
When it comes to the G7, it’s largely a dog-and-pony show, with most issues dealt with before the event, despite all the meetings and discussions. Biden wanted a statement in the joint communiqué that called China out for its human rights abuses. It’s doubtful the EU wants to antagonize Russia and China with any potentially incendiary statements in the ending communiqué. U.S. G7 delegation knows that the EU and Japan aren’t interested in restarting a new Cold War with Russia and China. Biden hoped that the EU and Japan would want to compete with China when it came to investments in the third world, currently spending trillions. Most developing countries appreciate that China ponied up while the U.S. and EU never found a funding mechanism for the some 100 developing countries China funds on the global stage. It’s hard for developing countries to turn away China’s cash.
Biden’s been graciously received at the G7 but only insofar as accepting differences between the EU and the U.S. With the EU still reeling from the Covid-19 recession and with several countries dealing with the new India-based Delta variant, no one wants to challenge China or Russia economically. Biden hoped he’s get backing for his moral crusade against human rights abuses in China and Russia, but found out the hard way that the EU has very different priorities than the U.S. With 67-year-old German Chancellor Angela Merkel retiring this September from the world stage and with 44-year-old Emmanuel Macron representing the EU, Biden was not embraced as the “leader of the Free world.” EU officials have different priorities moving forward, buying 40% of its energy from Russian, holding a $203 Euro trade imbalance with China, signaling the EU doesn’t want to rock the boat.
