President BidenJoe BidenPutin says he’s optimistic about working with Biden ahead of planned meeting How the infrastructure bill can help close the digital divide Biden meets Queen Elizabeth for first time as president MORE plans to press Group of Seven (G7) leaders to take “concrete action” to call out China’s forced labor practices during meetings Saturday at a summit in Cornwall, U.K, according to senior administration officials.
The G7 leaders are also unveiling a global infrastructure initiative, called “Back Better World,” to help finance climate-friendly infrastructure projects in the developing world as a counter to China’s “Belt and Road Initiative.”
The moves are collectively part of Biden’s efforts to get allies on board with U.S. efforts to outcompete China, the world’s second largest economy, and push back on Beijing’s abuses. Biden has made competition with China a central focus of both his foreign and domestic policy, often pointing to the need to outcompete China in justifying his $2.25 trillion domestic infrastructure proposal.
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A senior administration official told reporters that Biden would press other members of the G7 for “concrete action on forced labor to make clear to the world that we believe these practices are an affront to human dignity and an egregious example of China’s unfair economic competition.”
Officials said it is too early to say whether the G7 communique, which will be finalized at the end of the summit on Sunday, would explicitly name China, but said they were pushing for specific language related to Beijing’s forced labor practices targeting Uyghurs in Xinjiang.
Other members of the G7 that have more robust trading partnerships with China may be unwilling to call China out specifically. Germany, for instance, has called China its biggest trade partner for five years.
The G7 is comprised of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Officials described the global infrastructure plan as a “bold initiative” meant to narrow what they said is a $40 trillion infrastructure gap in the developing world.
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“Through B3W, the G7 and other like-minded partners with coordinate in mobilizing private-sector capital in four areas of focus—climate, health and health security, digital technology, and gender equity and equality—with catalytic investments from our respective development finance institutions,” reads a White House fact sheet announcing the initiative on Saturday, using the acronym “B3W” for the initiative.
“B3W will be global in scope, from Latin America and the Caribbean to Africa to the Indo-Pacific. Different G7 partners will have different geographic orientations, but the sum of the initiative will cover low- and middle-income countries across the world,” it says.
The White House did not put a dollar figure on the U.S.-led initiative, but said it will “collectively catalyze hundreds of billions of dollars of infrastructure investment for low- and middle-income countries in the coming years.”
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China is expected to be a focus of other meetings on Biden’s first trip abroad. Following the G7 meeting in Cornwall, Biden will travel to Brussels to participate in a NATO summit, where leaders are expected to discuss China’s maritime aggression and the broader security challenge posed by Beijing. Biden will also participate in a U.S.-European Union summit, where leaders are expected to discuss issues related to trade and technology.