The G7 wants to show a united front against the “global aggressors”

The G7 foreign ministers met on Saturday in Liverpool, in the north of England, to show their unity against the “global aggressors”, denouncing from the outset the maneuvers of Russia on the Ukrainian border.

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“We must unite with force to face the aggressors who try to limit the field of freedom and democracy”, launched the head of the British diplomacy Liz Truss, whose country holds the presidency of the G7, at the opening of this two-day meeting.

“For this, we must speak absolutely with one voice,” she added, calling for reflection to “reduce strategic dependence” and strengthen the “security architecture” of the great powers that claim to be of the democratic camp in the face of “authoritarian regimes”.

If it did not name these adversaries, these remarks are part of the will, in particular of the United States, to involve the G7 in the Western strategy to counter the ambitions of China on the world stage.

In the immediate future, it is above all another rival that is in the sights: Moscow, which Washington, the Europeans and Kiev have accused for a few weeks of preparations to possibly invade Ukraine, which the Kremlin denies.

American envoy to Kiev and Moscow

The US government announced on Saturday that it was dispatching its Deputy Secretary of State for Europe, Karen Donfried, to Ukraine and Russia from Monday to Wednesday, in search of “diplomatic progress to end the conflict in the Donbass”, in eastern Ukraine, “by implementing the Minsk agreements”.

These agreements reached in 2015 to end the war that broke out a year earlier in this Ukrainian region between the forces of Kiev and pro-Russian separatists were never really respected.

This burning issue was at the heart of bilateral talks on the sidelines of the Liverpool meeting. Liz Truss thus evoked the need for a “united front against Russian aggression” with the new German minister Annalena Baerbock.

The latter and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken “agreed that a firm response would be necessary if Moscow escalated,” added US diplomacy.

These remarks echo those of US President Joe Biden, who “let know” Tuesday to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin that Russia would expose itself to “strong sanctions, including economic ones”, in the event of an attack in Ukraine.

Despite still extreme tensions, the two leaders had decided to task their teams with follow-up meetings to see if a diplomatic de-escalation was possible. Karen Donfried’s visit will therefore be the first step in this diplomatic process.

“Battles of technology”

The foreign ministers of Germany, Canada, the United States, France, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom must also address other ongoing crises, especially in Burma, with the coup state military rule on February 1 and the recent prison sentence of former civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

G7 ministers are also expected to call on Iran to end the nuclear escalation and resume restrictions on its atomic program.

For Liz Truss, the “united front” against authoritarian regimes also involves deepening economic ties between democratic countries.

“We must win the battle of technologies”, “by making sure that our technological standards are set by those who believe in freedom and democracy”, she insisted, in another allusion to Beijing.

G7 ministers are expected to attend extended meetings with their EU, South Korean and Australian counterparts over the weekend.

On Sunday, Liz Truss will host plenary sessions on global health security as well as the Indo-Pacific region. Foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will join the G7 meeting for the first time.

The American Secretary of State must also go, after Liverpool, to Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand for a tour aimed at emphasizing the importance of this area at the heart of the United States’ anti-China strategy.

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