A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson on Wednesday mocked the Group of Seven (G7) for using the term 'international society' to describe the ambitions of the organisation.
On Sunday, the G7 leaders pledged to raise $600 billion in private and public funds over five years to finance needed infrastructure in developing countries and counter China's older, multi trillion-dollar Belt and Road project.
"So next time when they talk about 'international society', you know what they mean," Zhao Lijian said in a Twitter post as he compared the bloc with the BRICS that comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
So next time when they talk about "international society", you know what they mean... pic.twitter.com/3sV23dxLCp
— Lijian Zhao 赵立坚 (@zlj517) June 28, 2022
The spokesperson pointed out that a bloc representing 777 million people could not dictate global terms as opposed to one that represents more than 3.2 billion.
Later, China's state-run news agency Xinhua quoted Lijian as further saying that the population of G7 countries accounted for only around one 10th of the global total.
"They are in no position to represent the whole world, and still less are entitled to take their own values and standards as internationally universal," he maintained.
The population of G7 countries accounts for only around one 10th of the global total. They are in no position to represent the whole world, and still less are entitled to take their own values and standards as internationally universal: FM spokesperson pic.twitter.com/fmGariVSVO
— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) June 29, 2022
Meanwhile, Russian foreign ministry too put its weight behind the Chinese stance, explaining how all nations represented in BRICS had their separate identities intact.
💬#Zakharova: All #BRICS countries 🇧🇷🇷🇺🇮🇳🇨🇳🇿🇦 have complete sovereignty and their own foreign policy priorities.
— MFA Russia 🇷🇺 (@mfa_russia) June 29, 2022
👉 Unlike the #EU or #NATO, our group does not have “bloc discipline” or restrictions on ties with other participants in international communication. pic.twitter.com/E9sJEzayrw
Three days ago, US President Joe Biden and other G7 leaders relaunched the newly renamed "Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment" initiative at their annual gathering being held this year at Schloss Elmau in southern Germany.
Europe will mobilise 300 billion euros for the initiative over the same period to build up a sustainable alternative to China's Belt and Road Initiative scheme, which Chinese President Xi
Jinping launched in 2013, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the gathering.
China's investment scheme involves development and programmes in over 100 countries aimed at creating a modern version of the ancient Silk Road trade route from Asia to Europe.
White House officials assert that the plan has provided little tangible benefit for many developing countries.
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