Hiroshima, Japan – The Group of Seven has called for “constructive” ties with China and insisted it does not seek to block the country’s development, even by targeting Beijing’s rights record and territorial claims.
In their statement released on Saturday, the G7 leaders struck a balance between seeking cooperation on areas such as climate change and resisting Beijing’s increasingly assertive posture, which has upended decades-old assumptions. on the global balance of power.
Leaders of the wealthy democracies club said they did not want to decouple from China but acknowledged that economic resilience required “reducing risk and diversifying”.
“Our policy approaches are not designed to harm China, nor do we seek to thwart China’s economic progress and development,” the G7 leaders said.
“A growing China that abides by international rules would be of global interest.”
But the G7 – made up of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US – said it would respond to challenges posed by the “policies and practices non-market” of China, would counter “malicious practices” and “foster resilience to economic coercion”.
The G7 also expressed concern over Beijing’s claims to the East and South China Seas, as well as its crackdown on freedoms in Hong Kong, Tibet and Xinjiang.
The G7 leaders also called on China to pressure Russia to end its war in Ukraine and for the peaceful resolution of tensions over Taiwan, which Beijing has threatened to reunite with mainland China by force if necessary.
Yuichi Hosoya, a professor of international politics at Keio University in Tokyo, described the statement as taking a “very balanced approach”.
“This approach of risk reduction, not decoupling, is the EU’s preferred approach, and that meant they did not adopt the US ‘decoupling’ policy towards China,” Hosoya told Reuters. AlJazeera.
“Even though they used words critical of some of China’s positions and policies, I think they created a conclusion that can be accepted by most of the major powers in this conference.”
China’s foreign ministry on Saturday evening dismissed the statement as an example of interference in its internal affairs and said it had complained to Japan, the host of the G7.
Michele Geraci, a finance professor at the University of Nottingham Ningbo in China and a senior civil servant in Italy’s economic development ministry, said the G7 had “lost touch with reality” and should worry more about the future of its own economies and societies. .
“I would say the Chinese military becomes more aggressive once they build 750 military bases in the Mediterranean or the Caribbean Sea,” Geraci told Al Jazeera, referring to the global footprint of the US military. .
“In the meantime, the G7 leaders are simply looking for an external enemy to blame and hiding our own problems.”
Along with Russia’s war in Ukraine, China’s growing power and influence was the center of attention at the three-day summit in Hiroshima, Japan, which ends on Sunday.
The rally comes as Western officials increasingly call for coordinated action to counter Beijing, particularly in the United States, where President Joe Biden has made competition with Beijing a central pillar of his foreign policy.
Earlier this year, Bob Menendez, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called for the formation of an “economic NATO” to respond to economic coercion by countries like China.
On Tuesday, US Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel said the G7 would develop tools “to deter and defend against intimidation and economic retaliation from China”.
Japan and European members, however, were seen as more cautious than the United States in antagonizing Beijing due to their heavy reliance on Chinese trade, raising questions about the scope of these measures.
In their statement, the G7 leaders said they would launch an “Economic Coercion Coordination Platform” to respond to economic coercion.
The initiative would increase “the G7’s collective assessment, preparedness, deterrence and response to economic coercion” and “further promote cooperation with partners beyond the G7”, the statement said, without giving further details. .