Saturday, May 20, 2023, 20:46
On a day marked by the arrival in Hiroshima of the President of Ukraine, Volodímir Zelenski, the G-7 has proposed to combat the “economic coercion” of China, the other great protagonist, or rather antagonist, of this summit along with Russia.
In addition to the war in Ukraine, the other focus of the meeting was China, as seen in the final communiqué issued by the G-7 leaders. “We will seek to address the challenges posed by China’s non-market policies and practices, which distort the global economy. We will counter malicious practices, such as the illegitimate transfer of technology or disclosure of data. We will foster resistance to economic coercion. We also recognize the need to protect certain advanced technologies that could be used to threaten our national security without limiting trade or investment too much,” reads the document, which devotes much of its content to relations with Beijing.
Although the G-7 assures that its policies “are not designed to harm China or seek to impede its economic progress and development”, it advocates “reducing the risks of excessive dependence on our critical supply chains”, but not “decoupling” .
To that end, it will establish a Coordination Platform on Economic Coercion that will monitor investment in China to prevent more advanced technology from being used in a military manner. Among the most sensitive sectors are semiconductors, batteries and critical minerals.
Along with these economic measures, the G-7 warns about political issues such as human rights and freedoms in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong, while asking Beijing to “pressure Russia to stop its military aggression and withdraw from Ukraine unconditionally, completely and immediately.” Similarly, it warns China about the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and advocates for an “open and free Indo-Pacific”, rejecting “any unilateral and forcible change of the status quo.”
Trying to compete with Beijing’s influence in developing countries thanks to its economic muscle and initiatives such as the New Silk Roads, the G-7 promised to “mobilize $600 billion through the Alliance for Global Investment in Infrastructures». Among the first recipients of these transport and wind energy projects are India, Vietnam, the Philippines, Bangladesh and Egypt. Faced with the advance of authoritarian regimes like China and Russia in the developing world, the G-7 not only proposes its democratic and free market values, but also showers millions.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry protested against this statement and accused the G-7 of interfering in internal affairs such as Taiwan, the “de facto” independent island whose sovereignty it claims.
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