Commentary: G7 should be renamed G1+6

BEIJING, May 25 (Xinhua) -- In the just-ended Group of Seven (G7) Summit in Japan, a symbolic show of solidarity couldn't paper over cracks in the group.

Selfish Uncle Sam has made it increasingly difficult for the bloc to forge a unified will as more countries realize that the world's sole superpower is maneuvering to remould the group into a geopolitical tool for confrontation and conquest.

The mutual respect between the United States and its allies, if there is any, has been overblown. From the "backstabbing" AUKUS deal to America's Inflation Reduction Act, whose huge subsidies enraged the Europeans, it is abundantly clear that the United States seldom heeded the concerns or interests of its partners. Sometimes, it simply ripped them off.

The short "unipolar moment" of unprecedented U.S. power in the post-Cold War era is history now. The world is moving towards the age of multipolarity. Yet Washington's ambition of global domination remains alive and destructive. To maintain global hegemony, the country is fixated on provoking confrontation and divisions so that it can divide the world and rule supreme. That is exactly why it is exacerbating the tragic Ukraine crisis despite mounting calls for peace talks.

Washington is also seeking to coerce major European countries to take sides on issues regarding China, demanding their cooperation to keep the Asian country down.

With U.S. manipulation, the G7 is now actually made up of one coercer-in-chief and six "half accomplices, half victims." There is no way it can be a force for peace and common good of the world.

Don't expect that Washington's game of power politics as well as its strategy of divide-and-rule will have its way. The United States' practice of compelling its allies to conform is being challenged by the fact that the interests of the world's nations are becoming increasingly intertwined in this age of economic globalization.

More and more nations, especially those in the Global South, have gradually realized that blindly taking sides with the United States only jeopardizes their future. They don't want to be used as a pawn or reduced to a vassal.

For example, when the United States called for its G7 allies to "take stronger positions on Beijing," countries like Germany and France stressed that "the G7 is not an 'anti-China alliance,'" reported Germany's international broadcaster, Deutsche Welle. "They have also underlined that de-risking their economies does not mean cutting off ties with the world's second-biggest economy."

"Counting on outdated formula, good vs. evil, will not cut it in this age. It will only make the G7 meeting another ceremonial photo-op event," Dubai-based daily Gulf News said in an article titled "Why an outdated G7 is no longer relevant."

Thanks to a high-handed and self-serving Washington, the G7 lacks either the drive to promote global progress or the solidarity to work in unison. Also, Washington will be disappointed at the fact that other G7 members can hardly surrender to its ego of global domination. Perhaps it is time to rename the G7 group as the "G1+6."