Sen. Chris Murphy: ‘Hardest work’ at G20 summit is uniting democracies to counter China

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said Friday that bringing together the world’s democracies to counter China’s influence is the biggest challenge facing the G20 after President Biden landed in India for the group’s weekend summit.

Murphy, in an interview on MSNBC, said there is no doubt China is growing in “military prominence and prowess,” but emphasized it’s important to find ways to match what he said is China’s primary diplomatic tool — economic aid.

“The hardest work that’s going to be done at the G20 summit is going to be on this topic of bringing together the world’s democracies to try to make sure that we can match China when it comes to the offers they make, especially in developing countries, to buy up their infrastructure or purchase mineral rights,” Murphy said.

Murphy said China wants to own a monopoly over certain global trade targets, and the U.S. and its allies have to prevent that.

“What China wants to do is essentially capture the highways and railways of global commerce so that they can own a monopoly over at least certain targeted trades,” Murphy said. “We can’t let that happen.”

The Connecticut senator predicted the U.S., India and some partners in the Middle East will make a big announcement at the G20 summit, revealing a new infrastructure linkage between India and the Middle East.

“I think you are going to see some big commitments from our partners to put money into these global development funds so that we can make sure China is not the only one putting an offer on the table when a port comes up for bid in north Africa.”

Aside from concerns about China’s economic influence, Murphy said the country’s military spending increases are “worrisome” as well.

The absence of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping at this year’s meeting of 19 world leaders is being seen as an opportunity for Biden to take center stage and unite allies around pushing back against Russia and China.

In addition, reshaping the World Bank is expected to be another major agenda item.