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Expand G8, but make talks useful

(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-07-09 15:50

Leaders of Japan, the United States, Germany, Britain, France, Russia, Canada and Italy gather at Lake Toyako, Hokkaido, for the Group of Eight summit.

Certainly, the G8 nations are important, but many people now question whether this select group can effectively plot the necessary courses to resolve the thorny problems facing the world. Shouldn't participation, it is asked, be expanded to a greater number of countries?

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has proposed that China, India, South Africa, Brazil, Mexico and others be added. There is also the view that Arab and Islamic states should be included, as well as the more radical position that only the United States and China are needed as a Group of Two.

Compared with 1975, when the summit process started, the global map of national clout has definitely changed.

There is good reason to question the significance of discussing the global economy when China has no representation. At the same time, India and Brazil are among emerging economies that are galloping ahead.

Nations blessed with crude oil and other natural resources, as well as investment funds that move across national borders, have a major impact on the global economy. Their influence cannot be ignored.

Reacting to changes in the global order, this top-level meeting of major powers has transformed itself. Following the end of the Cold War, for instance, Russia became an official member, changing the group's original makeup as a club of leading Western countries.

At the Okinawa Summit in 2000, outreach talks were held to pursue dialogue with African nations. The leaders of China and other emerging economies were also subsequently invited to attend, and are now part of the process.

At Lake Toyako, only one day of the three-day agenda has been allotted for traditional G8 talks.

The rest of the program features meetings with African leaders, a G13 framework including China, India and other countries, and G16 with Australia, South Korea and other rising powers. This will be the largest gathering in history of the summit meetings, with more than 20 national leaders on hand.

To what degree can participating countries reach a shared awareness of the challenges and mobilize that mind-set to confirm their determination to hammer out solutions? That is the single greatest function expected of the expanded G8 summit. While it is fine to debate the numbers or the frameworks of participating countries, the first priority must be to maximize the value of the talks.

The crises facing the world are grave. How far can leaders succeed in forging solidarity? If Lake Toyako wraps up as a mere diplomatic show, the limits of the G8 framework will be revealed once and for all.

The Asahi Shimbun