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Whether it is D-10, G-10, G-11 or G-12: What’s there in a Name?

Recently, there was a call for expansion of the G-7 membership by the U.S. President as well as British Prime Minister. Though the expanded group looks like an anti-China grouping but the actual motive of the expansion is to discipline China and not isolate it. (You can also read the Changing Global Order to understand the issue clearly)

 

Evolution of the G-7

It was formed in the year 1975 with six members, namely the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, France and Japan, Canada joining a year later. When it was formed it represented about 70% of the world economy, today it accounts for about 40% of world GDP. It was formed with a common motive of tackling issues such as the response to oil shocks. G20 which was formed after the global financial crisis of 2007-09 has overshadowed the G-7. G-7 was for some period of time was called G-8 when Russia joined the group in 1997, but in 2017 it was debarred from the membership when it annexed Crimea.

Past attempts of its expansion

It was France which initiated the process of G-7 membership expansion in 2003 when it invited heads of states of several “emerging economies” for a meeting of the group at Évian-les-Bains, France.



After that the host countries began to organize a meeting on the sidelines of their summits with a select group of five or six developing countries. Interestingly, India and China were invited to all those summits.

This time the president Trump has, however, gone a step further. He suggested that rather than inviting them as a “guests” to a G-7 summit, he has proposed expanding the G-7 to a G-10 or G-11. He has also come up with an interesting list of new members like Australia, India, South Korea and, possibly, Russia. The group could be further expanded to G-12 with the inclusion of Indonesia — one of the few democratic nations in the Islamic world. Trump has time and again stated that this expansion is not to isolate China but to discipline it (Please refer: Changing equation of super powers for more info).

D-10

Also known as the 5G club of democracies which is propose by the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to end the dominance of Chinese 5G technology. He is pushing to form a formal group to channelize investment to develop their own 5g technology. This forma grouping will include all the members of G-7 plus Australia, India and South Korea. Please refer Falling of International Institutions.

Defining the Agenda of new Grouping

If Trump’s motivation in expanding the G-7 is to disciplining China, then the grouping needs to define its agenda carefully. Because the grouping is to be able alter China’s behaviour without isolating it, the G-12 will have to widen their agenda. The agenda must not be confined to purely economic issues but also include environment, health care and human rights.


Conclusion

India is the world’s largest free market democracy and number one candidate to become the member of not just a G-12 but of even a new G-7. Still India needs to cautiously take the decision before joining any grouping, because it would be not a wise step to join any group just to counter China.

 

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