The G7 is set to issue its strongest condemnation of China, as the world’s most advanced economies step up their response to what they say are rising military and economic security threats posed by Beijing.
In broad criticism of China over everything from its militarisation of the South China Sea to its use of “economic coercion”, the G7 urged Beijing to push Russia to withdraw its troops from Ukraine, according to a joint communiqué obtained by the Financial Times.
The G7 members said they were “seriously concerned” about the situation in the East and South China Seas, and “strongly oppose any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force or coercion”. They also called for a “peaceful solution” to the increasing tension across the Taiwan Strait.
The G7 members also said they “were prepared to build constructive and stable relations” with Beijing but recognised the importance of “engaging candidly . . . and expressing our concerns directly to China”.
The statement marks the strongest criticism of Beijing by the G7, which mentioned China in a communiqué for the first time two years ago when the leaders met in the UK.
At the three-day summit in Hiroshima the US and its democratic allies have sought to project unity in the face of deepening global division caused by the war in Ukraine, the US-China dispute, global warming and the expansion of artificial intelligence.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s president, landed in Hiroshima on Saturday afternoon, ahead of his participation in Sunday’s sessions devoted to the war in Ukraine.
Zelenskyy, whose participation was kept secret until yesterday, upon arrival in Japan wrote on Twitter: “Japan. G7. Important meetings with partners and friends of Ukraine. Security and enhanced co-operation for our victory. Peace will become closer today.”
A Ukrainian official travelling with Zelenskyy told the FT that the main Ukrainian goals at the summit are to push for support for Kyiv’s peace plan; secure more military support and co-operation, particularly when it comes to air defences and fighter jets, with an emphasis on long-term guarantees; convince allies to ratchet up sanctions pressure on Russia; and discuss further measures to hold Moscow accountable for its invasion.
The increasingly tough stance on China comes after two years of the US and Japan working with the other G7 countries to strike a harsher tone against China’s military activity around Taiwan and its use of economic pressure.
The leaders of Japan, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, US and UK also warned of “heightened uncertainty about the global economic outlook”, pledging to remain vigilant and flexible in their macroeconomic policy as global inflationary pressure continues.
On economic policy towards Beijing, the G7 said its approach was “not designed to harm China” nor “to thwart China’s economic progress and development”. Member nations said the group was not interested in decoupling from China and was simply engaging in what it called “de-risking”.
But they said they would take action to tackle “challenges posed by China’s non-market policies and practices, which distort the global economy” and “foster resilience to economic coercion”.
On climate policy the leaders agreed that, given the exceptional impacts of Russia’s war against Ukraine, “publicly supported investment in the gas sector can be appropriate as a temporary response,” in a victory for Germany.
Berlin had pushed for such an endorsement despite opposition from countries including the UK and France, which said it undermined the G7’s stated aim to shift away from fossil fuels, and accusations from environmental groups that it would amount to backsliding on net zero commitments.
Regarding the rapidly developing artificial intelligence industry, the leaders agreed to “commit to further advancing multi-stakeholder approaches to the development of standards for AI” and to develop international standards for the sector.
The G7 also agreed to set up a “Hiroshima AI process” in co-operation with the OECD and the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence, a group of 29 countries focused on the topic, by the end of this year, to discuss governance, intellectual property rights and “responsible” use.
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