PARIS - China was never part of the picture when leading powers first convened in 1975 at a chateau near Paris to tackle a weakening world economy. That gathering launched the annual summits of what became the G7 club of affluent nations focused on advancing shared priorities.

Inclusion of China would have seemed impossible then. Revolutionary leader Mao Zedong could hardly have joined U.S. President Gerald Ford and fellow heads of state for such talks.

China faced deep internal disorder and stood far from its present economic might. Mao had backed Vietnamese communists against French and American troops, so his presence at the original Rambouillet meeting of six countries would have felt out of place. Canada joined the next year to form the G7.

Yet with U.S. President Donald Trump and other G7 heads reconvening in France starting Monday, China's continued absence from these informal sessions now seems strange given its enormous influence on global economic health and international affairs.

In short, does the G7 retain purpose without China?

Here is a closer examination:

By economic achievement alone, China would already belong.

Decades of expansion since Mao's 1976 death have produced an economy that overshadows those of G7 members Germany, Japan, Britain, France, Italy and Canada, with only the United States remaining ahead. Measured this way, a G7 meeting minus China resembles a soccer World Cup without five-time champion Brazil.

From a modest and harmless presence in 1975, China has grown into a powerful global actor, observes John Kirton, a University of Toronto expert on the G7.

Many reasonably wonder whether the G7 and wider world would gain from Chinese membership. A reasonable reply is yes.

Trump floated the notion of adding China last year, calling the idea worth considering.

Still, an implicit G7 principle limits membership to democracies.

The founding statement from Rambouillet in 1975 affirmed responsibility for open, democratic societies committed to personal freedom and social progress.

China failed that test under Mao, whose policies caused millions of deaths via famine and upheaval.

It would fail again under President Xi Jinping. Multiple gauges, such as the annual Freedom in the World report, the World Press Freedom Index and the Fraser Institute's economic freedom rankings, place China well behind G7 countries on civil liberties.

China's influence touches every G7 nation in countless areas. It runs large trade surpluses, recently posting a record near 1.2 trillion dollars for 2025, creating friction with other industrial powers. It dominates supplies of vital rare minerals. Its tech progress and expanding military raise concerns among rivals. It also leads the world in climate-changing emissions.

These factors ensure China will loom large at the Monday-to-Wednesday summit in the Alpine resort of Evian-les-Bains.

As host, French President Emmanuel Macron has scheduled time for leaders to address rebalancing trade with China, worried that surging Chinese exports of vehicles and goods could damage G7 industries.

Relations between Trump and fellow G7 leaders have soured recently over issues including Iran, yet China may serve as common ground, according to Cedric Dupont of the Geneva Graduate Institute.

They share the view that China poses difficulties, he noted.

China's government has previously faulted the G7 for its closed nature and viewed it as a Cold War holdover from a more ideologically split era.

In a statement to The Associated Press before the Evian meeting, the Chinese Foreign Ministry offered a subtler stance, urging the G7 to promote unity and cooperation instead of deepening splits and rivalry.

Beijing analyst Wang Zichen observes that China remains cautious toward the G7, seeing it as tied to U.S.-led Western influence and as a forum where China is framed as a rival or danger.

Chinese leaders cannot dismiss the group entirely.

China understands that the G7 still holds substantial economic, technological, military and financial strength, Wang added.

Experts caution that bringing China in could undermine group unity, not merely because its authoritarian governance, interests and stances on Russia, Iran and other topics clash with G7 democracies, but also because its participation might strain longstanding alliances.

A Chinese leader inside would act as a disruptive force, Kirton said. Members could be drawn to defect from G7 positions to gain special advantages on trade, minerals, technology and related matters.

Chris Alden of the London School of Economics and Political Science warned that adding China would severely hamper effective operation.

The G7's prior expansion to include Russia in 1998 ended poorly.

The group suspended Russian President Vladimir Putin after his 2014 seizure of Crimea from Ukraine, an action that preceded the wider conflict beginning in 2022.

Trump remarked last year that barring Russia proved a major error.

Kirton noted the episode reinforced leaders' resolve to avoid admitting any power short of full democracy into their democratic circle.