The Week in Multilateralism

January 29, 2021

• The Group of Seven industrialized countries (G7) sharply criticized the Russian government this week for its arrest of opposition leader Alexei Navalny. The group—comprising Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States—pressed for Navalny’s “immediate and unconditional release” and reminded Russia of its international human rights obligations. While its role historically has often been to harmonize financial and economic policy, the G7 statement was a reminder of it ability to serve as a focal point on diplomatic, security, and human rights issues.

  There are signs that the British government, which chairs the grouping this year, has ambitions for it to play a more energetic role. The Guardian reported on thinking within the Johnson government about a G7 function in promoting a disaster relief fund and streamlining the vaccine approval process around the world:

  The proposal for a global crisis risk initiative is already under discussion in the UK Cabinet Office and Foreign Office as Boris Johnson prepares a post-Covid agenda for the G7, due to be held in Cornwall in June.

  In a sign that the government wants to think big at the G7, Matt Hancock, the health secretary, this week has already said the G7 should examine a new system to give vaccines worldwide regulatory approval, ending the current slow and duplicatory system of national approval.

  It’s not surprising that London, newly decoupled from the European Union, would use its leadership of the G7 to promote a vigorous global role. But there are signs of resistance to certain of its more ambitious ideas. Britain has announced its intention to invite Australia, India, and Korea to the upcoming G7 summit. Given previous British statements about the need for a “D10” of advanced democracies, those invitations raised eyebrows. The Japanese government appears particularly concerned about any moves to eventually alter the G7’s membership.

• One of the Biden administration’s immediate tasks in the multilateral realm will be figuring out whether and how to put the reeling World Trade Organization (WTO) back on its feet. The most pressing question is whether the United States will permit the appointment of new members to the organization’s Appellate Body, which provides binding resolution of trade disputes. A Wall Street Journal report noted that the Biden team is facing an environment in which Beijing has positioned itself as a defender of the WTO’s dispute resolution system, even working with the EU to develop a mechanism that circumvents the paralyzed appellate body (for an earlier post on that effort, see here).

  While the Biden administration has moved quickly to reverse some of the Trump administration’s multilateral policies, it is evident that WTO policy will take time to sort out. At a session in Geneva this week, U.S. representatives signaled that the U.S. is not yet ready to accept new members to the Appellate Body. Meanwhile, the question of who will serve as the WTO’s next Director-General remains pending. A group of former U.S. officials this week urged the Biden administration to back the candidacy of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Nigerian economist who has secured broad international support but whom the Trump administration blocked.

• Veteran diplomat Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the Biden administration’s choice to serve as U.N. ambassador, faced questions this week from the Senate Foreign Relations committee. Several Republican senators criticized her decision to speak to a Confucius Institute event, but there was no sign that confirmation was in doubt.

  As expected, Thomas-Greenfield signaled the administration’s intention to reengage with a host of UN bodies, including the Human Rights Council, and restore funding to several UN bodies. She cast that reengagement effort largely as a means of fending off expanding Chinese influence at the UN. Asked about reform to the Security Council membership, Thomas-Greenfield offered general support but refrained from endorsing the candidacies of any particular countries, noting that there are divisions within the UN membership about the proper path to reform. Past U.S. administrations have at times supported particular aspirant countries, most recently when President Obama told the Indian parliament that he backed that country’s pursuit of a permanent seat.

• In a speech to the World Economic Forum, Chinese president Xi Jinping called for humanity to follow the the “torch of multilateralism:”

  The strong should not bully the weak. Decisions should not be made by simply showing off strong muscles or waving a big fist. Multilateralism should not be used as pretext for acts of unilateralism. Principles should be preserved and rules, once made, should be followed by all. “Selective multilateralism” should not be our option.

  Xi mentioned, in particular, Chinese support for the principles of the UN Charter and the work of the World Health Organization (WHO). The speech came as a WHO investigative team was quarantining in China, preparing to begin face-to-face interviews designed to shed light on the pandemic’s origins. The Associated Press reported on the team’s work:

  The team members had spent the past two weeks in a required quarantine, during which they had been communicating with Chinese officials by videoconferences to lay the groundwork for field visits….

  WHO….said late Thursday on Twitter that its team plans to visit hospitals, markets like the Huanan Seafood Market linked to many of the first cases, the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and laboratories at facilities like the Wuhan Center for Disease Control.

• NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg spoke this week with President Biden. The White House took the unusual step of releasing a video of the call rather than simply providing a summary:

  Emily Horne, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council, said the video — the first one of its kind for the team — reflects the importance of the White House's support for NATO and for revitalizing trans-Atlantic relationships, which were frayed during the Trump years.

  The call came as Stoltenberg reiterated longstanding requests for NATO members to invest more in their militaries, and as navy ships from several NATO members moved into the Black Sea for planned exercises.

• Briefly noted:

  • The office of the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights released a harsh report on the situation in Sri Lanka. The Human Rights Council is scheduled to consider the report later in February.

  • Friction between the European Commission and vaccine manufacturer AstraZeneca continued, as controversy swirled about the EU’s uneven vaccine rollout.

  • With border tensions continuing, India’s eternal affairs minister accused China of obstructing India’s bid for membership in key multilateral bodies.

  • Victims of drone strikes in Yemen are seeking accountability at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

  • The International Criminal Court took custody of a militia commander from the Central African Republic. Meanwhile, two Brazilian indigenous leaders asked the court to investigate the country’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, for “crimes against humanity.”

  • Chad became the first country to seek debt restructuring under a new G20-approved framework.