G7 strongly condemns China as it steps up Beijing’s response

The G7 is set to issue its strongest condemnation of China, as the world’s most advanced economies weigh their responses to the growing military and economic security threats posed by Beijing.

In a wide-ranging criticism of China, from the militarization of the South China Sea to the use of “economic coercion”, the G7 urged Beijing to push Russia to withdraw its troops from Ukraine, according to a joint release obtained by the Financial Times. Did.

The G7 members said they were “seriously concerned” about the situation in the East and South China Seas, and “strongly oppose any unilateral attempt to change the status quo by force or coercion”. He also called for a “peaceful solution” to rising tensions in the Taiwan Strait.

The G7 members also said they were “ready to pursue a constructive and stable relationship” with Beijing but acknowledged the importance of “clearly engaging”. , , And expressing our concerns directly to China.

The statement marks the strongest criticism of Beijing by the G7, which mentioned China for the first time in a communique two years ago when the leaders met in Britain.

At a three-day summit in Hiroshima, the US and its democratic allies sought to show unity in the face of deepening global divisions caused by the war in Ukraine, the US-China dispute, global warming and the expansion of artificial intelligence.

The increasingly tough stance on China comes two years after the US and Japan worked with other G7 nations against China’s military activity around Taiwan and its use of economic pressure.

The leaders of Japan, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the US and the UK also warned of “increased uncertainty about the global economic outlook”, pledging to remain cautious and flexible in their macroeconomic policy as global inflationary pressures persist. Gave.

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 states said the group was not interested in breaking away from China and was only engaging in what it called “de-risking”.

But they said they would take action to “address the challenges posed by China’s non-market policies and practices, which distort the global economy” and “promote resilience to economic pressure”.

On climate policy the leaders agreed that, given the extraordinary effects of Russia’s war against Ukraine, “publicly supported investment in the gas sector may be appropriate as a temporary response,” in a victory for Germany.

Berlin had pushed for such support despite opposition from countries including Britain and France, which said it undermined the G7’s stated objective of moving away from fossil fuels, and accusations from environmental groups that This would amount to backsliding on net zero commitments.

Regarding the rapidly developing artificial intelligence industry, the leaders agreed to “advance a multi-stakeholder approach to the development of standards for AI” and commit to developing international standards for the field.

The G7 also agreed to set up a “Hiroshima AI process” in collaboration with the OECD and the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence, a group of 29 countries focused on the topic, to discuss governance, intelligence, by the end of the year. Property rights and “responsible” use.