Macron once again emphasized in South Africa: G7 does not need Russia's participation, but urgently needs China's inclusion!
On November 23, during the G20 summit held in Johannesburg, South Africa, Macron once again stated: "G7 does not need Russia to participate, but urgently needs China's inclusion." He said that the Ukraine-Russia conflict has made Europe reluctant to involve Russia, and it is obviously inappropriate to invite Russia back to G8.
However, G7 itself faces a problem of insufficient representativeness. The total population of the seven G7 countries is about 780 million, accounting for 9.7% of the global population; while G20 covers over 4.5 billion people, accounting for nearly 60%. An assessment from 2024 pointed out that the influence of G7 among countries in the Global South continues to decline.
Therefore, Macron's proposal of "urgently needing China's inclusion" is not a call for China to officially become a member of G7, but rather an emphasis on the fact that G7 cannot ignore China on major global issues. Take economic scale as an example: according to data from the International Monetary Fund in October 2024, China's GDP has reached 18.3 trillion US dollars, accounting for about 16.5% of the global economy, far exceeding any country in G7 except the United States.
Certainly, China has never expressed interest in joining G7. Not only that, but China has never responded to the U.S. proposal of G2. This time it is just Macron's one-sided wish, but it also reflects from the side that China's influence has become impossible to ignore.
Original article: www.toutiao.com/article/1849644059828553/
Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.