G20 Summit: Multilateral Cooperation Has Clearly Atrophied into Mere Formality

Editorial

15:00 JST, November 25, 2025

While the adoption of a summit declaration at an international conference is largely left to the discretion of the host country, it was highly extraordinary for a declaration to be adopted without the agreement of participating nations.

This symbolizes division in the multilateral cooperative framework and shows that it has become a mere formality.

The Group of 20 summit was held in Johannesburg.

The adopted Leaders’ Declaration included policies to strengthen responses to disasters exacerbated by climate change and to address debt relief for low-income countries. It also explicitly called for the promotion of rules-based trade, apparently with the high U.S. tariffs in mind.

The absence of the United States, which boycotted the summit for such reasons as “persecution” of the white minority in South Africa, appears to have affected the fact that the views of emerging and developing nations were strongly reflected in the declaration.

South Africa pushed through the declaration almost unilaterally shortly after the summit opened. The United States and pro-U.S. Argentina have criticized the move.

The G20 is essentially a framework that gathers countries with different political systems and values to discuss global issues. It is deeply regrettable that divisions among member countries were highlighted at such a valuable forum.

At the summit, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said, “Japan will work together with the other G20 members to uphold and strengthen a free and open international order based on the rule of law.”

The prime minister also held her first meetings with such world leaders as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sideline of the summit. She reportedly held talks with over 20 leaders, including heads of international organizations.

It is important to strengthen cooperation with countries in Europe and the Global South to resolve issues facing the international community.

However, it is difficult to make progress on various issues without the involvement of the United States. Japan needs to work persistently to bring its ally, the United States, back into the multilateral framework.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang also attended the G20 summit, but a meeting between Takaichi and Li was not realized. Japan-China relations have rapidly cooled following a remark by the prime minister during a Diet session regarding a survival-threatening situation in connection with a Taiwan contingency. It is important to prevent the current situation from worsening by carrying out multilayered communication, including between the leaders.

The Chinese Embassy in Japan has expressed the idea that China can take military action against Japan based on the so-called enemy state clauses in the U.N. Charter.

However, these clauses were rendered obsolete by a U.N. General Assembly resolution in 1995 and the policy to remove them was confirmed in another General Assembly resolution in 2005. China supported both resolutions.

Against China’s propaganda campaign of disparaging Japan, Tokyo must counter each claim appropriately, and clearly demonstrate how misguided China’s assertions are.

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Nov. 25, 2025)