From the final linked item about China and the upcoming G20 meeting to be held in Kashmir:
“China is firmly opposed to holding any kind of G20 meetings
in disputed territory, and will not attend such meetings,” Chinese
Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Friday.
Now why might "disputed territory" be a hot-button thing in China? Aside from the ongoing status of the Island where the Nationalist Chinese regrouped after Mao won the civil war. You know, it might be only all about Taiwan.
With the exception of Japan, the sanctions campaign against Russia has been a Western-led effort.
While Russia’s trade with G7 countries has plummeted, China, India
and Turkey have picked up much of the slack through increased imports of
Russian coal, oil and gas. Russia’s economy only contracted by about
2.2 percent in 2022, far less than expected.
[handshake image - Brazilian President and Japan’s Prime Minister]
Although the G7 is still influential, its share of the global economy
has declined from about 70 percent during the 1980s to 44 percent today
– meaning that it has limited scope to tighten the screws on Russia
without buy-in from the wider international community.
“Kishida wants to get closer to the Global South because currently
the G7 approach toward Russia – and China – is somewhat isolated,”
Sayuri Shirai, an economics professor at Keio University in Tokyo, told
Al Jazeera.
“Many developing and emerging economies, because of their closer
linkage through natural resources or the economy with Russia and/or
China are very cautious to become part of a G7-led coalition.
“The Global South is important because their market share is growing
and their GDP share (PPP, based on purchasing power parity) is more than
50 percent,” Shirai added. “Meanwhile, Japan is ageing and its
population is dropping.”
Clout, in terms of 70% world economy >> 44% is a fact best paid attention.
