The international community will not fall in line with the pro-Western rules pushed by the Group of Seven (G7) and not allow the U.S.-led group to dominate world affairs, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
“China will never accept the so-called rules imposed by the few. The international community does not accept and will not accept the G7-dominated Western rules that seek to divide the world based on ideologies and values,” the statement read.
The Foreign Ministry went on to accuse the group of acting on behalf of “America-first” policies and attempting to impose its will on others. “That simply shows how little international credibility means to the G7,” the ministry said.
It said: “Gone are the days when a handful of Western countries can just willfully meddle in other countries’ internal affairs and manipulate global affairs.”
The G7 is an informal club consisting of the U.S., Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan. The G7 annual meetings are typically also attended by officials representing the EU.
In a joint communique adopted at the summit in Hiroshima, Japan on Saturday, the G7 listed multiple allegations aimed at Beijing, including technology theft, “economic coercion,” and human rights abuses at home. The group said that it strongly opposes “any unilateral attempt to change the status quo by force” around Taiwan and in the South China Sea.
Beijing responded by saying that “affairs related to Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Tibet are purely China’s internal affairs.”
China accused the G7 of endangering peace in the region by providing “support for ‘Taiwan independence’ force.”
Although G7 members refrain from formally establishing diplomatic ties with Taiwan, the U.S. has sold weapons to Taipei and promised to defend it from a potential attack from the mainland. U.S. politicians have also met with officials from Taiwan, prompting harsh criticism from Beijing, which opposes any form of diplomatic contacts with the Taipei authorities.
Avoid The Division Of The World Into Two, Says UN Secretary-General
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called on the G7 nations to refrain from dividing the world into Cold War-style blocs aligned with either the U.S. or China. The Western leaders, meanwhile, made Russia and China the focus of a joint statement on nuclear weapons.
Speaking to Japan’s Kyodo News as the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, and the U.S. met in Hiroshima on Saturday, Guterres called for “active dialogue and cooperation” between the G7 nations and China on matters of climate change and development.
“I believe it is very important to avoid the division of the world into two, and it is very important to create bridges for serious negotiation,” he said.
Guterres has repeatedly warned of a brewing Cold War between Western nations and China in recent years, calling the diverging economic, political, and military interests of both sides a “great fracture” in 2019.
Relations between Beijing and Washington in particular have taken a nosedive over the last year, with China cutting cooperation with the U.S. on climate issues in response to a visit by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan in August, and U.S. President Joe Biden threatening military action should Beijing move to retake control of the island.
While Guterres spoke out against “division of the world,” a joint statement by the G7 leaders on Friday reinforced that division. Focusing on nuclear weapons, the statement accused Russia of “irresponsible nuclear rhetoric” and “undermining of arms control regimes,” while describing China’s modernization of its nuclear arsenal as “a concern to global and regional security.”
On the other hand, Russia has bitterly condemned the UK for supplying depleted uranium ammunition to Ukraine. Russian forces struck a warehouse containing British-supplied depleted uranium shells in the city of Khmelnitsky last week, sending a “radioactive cloud towards Western Europe,” Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev stated on Friday.
The Kremlin previously stated that “the British will be held accountable” for sending such weapons to Ukraine.
Moscow has also accused Kiev of attempting to cause a nuclear disaster by shelling the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant on Russian territory. The G7 leaders’ statement condemned Russia for taking control of the plant, while making no mention of Ukraine’s attacks on it.