New Delhi: While US President Donald Trump has officially invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to join the G7 summit, likely to be held in September in America, India’s possible membership to the elite grouping may take some time, diplomatic sources told ThePrint.
According to sources, while President Trump had expressed his desire to expand the G7 membership during a phone-call with Prime Minister Modi while inviting him to attend the meet Tuesday, the “real challenge” for New Delhi begins now when it has to leverage its diplomatic weight with “each and every G7 member” to be a part of the group.
During the telephone conversation, President Trump “conveyed his desire to expand the ambit of the grouping beyond the existing membership, to include other important countries, including India,” said a statement by the Ministry of External Affairs.
The decision to expand the grouping, however, cannot be taken by the US alone. Other members such as the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada, have to not only agree to Trump’s proposal to expand the grouping but also on the new members that he wants to add, said a diplomatic source of one of the G7 member countries.
Lack of consensus on Trump’s expansion plans
Earlier this month, President Trump had announced that he was keen to expand the G7 and include Russia, Australia and South Korea apart from India.
On the one hand, the UK and Canada have stated they do not want Russia to re-enter the group. Moscow was ousted from the group in 2014 for its annexation of Crimea. Prior to that, the grouping was known as the G8.
On the other hand, China is upset at the plans to expand the G7, stating that such actions will result in the creation of a “small circle” against Beijing and thus such a plan is “doomed to fail”.
“A formal expansion of the grouping will require the consensus of all members, which has not happened before,” Arun K. Singh, a veteran diplomat and former Indian Ambassador to the US, told ThePrint. “This is the first time that President Trump, being the chair of the G7 grouping has expressed his proposal to expand the group. How smooth the process will be, remains to be seen. Countries such as Canada and the UK have already expressed opposition to Russia’s re-inclusion.”
Singh also said the US’ plan is also “aimed at the US Indo-Pacific strategy, since the additional countries being suggested include South Korea and Australia, both allies of the US”.
“Deliberate exclusion of China in current proposal reflects the present tensions in US-China relations, and continued effort by President Trump to project, with an eye on the US November Presidential elections, that he is tough on China, especially when he has been trying to criticise his rival for earlier having been soft on China,” he added.
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‘More voice for India’
PM Modi’s predecessor Manmohan Singh had attended the G7 Summits (then G8) five times — in 2005 (UK), 2006 (Russia), 2007 (Germany), 2008 (Japan) and 2009 (Italy).
For Modi, this will be his second. He had attended the outreach session of the G7 Summit last year in Biarritz, France.
“India will get more voice, more influence and more power by entering the G7. After UN Security Council (UNSC), this is the most influential grouping. If the group is expanded it will collectively address the humongous issues created by the Wuhan virus,” said Kanwal Sibal, former foreign secretary.
He, however, said India should not listen to the protest made by China in the expansion of the G7, which is “bullying India in Ladakh” and work towards joining the group.
“If G7 does get expanded, with the inclusion of India, it will certainly be useful for India, and for the group as well, since its present configuration no longer reflects global realities. India has made a similar argument for UNSC expansion,” Singh added.
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