[1/4] Italy’s Economics Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti, Joachim Nagel, President of Deutsche Bundesbank, Japan’s Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki, Governor of the Bank of Japan Kazuo Ueda, Bank of Japan… Read more
WASHINGTON, May 12 (Portal) – Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) are due to make a statement of their concerns about China’s use of “economic coercion” in its foreign deals when they meet next week, according to a trusted US official, according to a trusted US official the discussions.
The statement, a likely part of the overall communiqué to be released by leaders during the May 19-21 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, is expected to be paired with a broader written proposal on how the seven advanced economies will work together to counteract this. economic compulsion” from any country.
The G7’s main statement is said to include “a section specific to China” with a list of concerns that include “economic coercion and other behavior we have observed specifically in China.” [People’s Republic of China]’ the official said on Friday.
A separate “Declaration on Economic Security will address more of the tools” deployed to counter those efforts, including planning and coordination, the person said. In any case, these statements are expected to go beyond previous statements by the G7.
US President Joe Biden has made China a focus of his foreign policy and is trying to prevent the tense and intensely competitive relationship from ending in an open conflict, including one over self-governing Taiwan.
The G7, which also includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom, has close economic ties to China, the world’s largest exporter and a key market for many companies in the seven countries.
Last month, China called a statement by G7 foreign ministers touching on similar issues “full of arrogance and prejudice against China” and filed complaints with this year’s G7 host Japan.
Under Biden’s predecessor, President Donald Trump, G7 statements often only touched on issues affecting China. The Biden administration has pushed for more direct statements.
The joint statement by all G7 leaders each year aims to signal that the powerful countries are aligned on a range of political and economic issues.
G7 members will also envisage further cooperation with China on areas such as climate.
“We are not for decoupling the US and China economies, we are for risk reduction, we are for diversification,” the US official said. “This principle is very unifying.”
Negotiations on the exact text of the joint statements by the heads of state and government are still subject to diplomacy and adjustment before they are published during the summit.
CHINA TESTS G7 ALLIANCE
The G7 meeting will be a test of how far the members, all wealthy democracies, can agree on a common approach towards China, the world’s second largest economy.
The China terms have been a key theme of talks currently being held by G7 financial leaders in Niigata. They have focused on reducing the “over-reliance” of their countries’ supply chains on Chinese manufacturing, including through partnerships with low- and middle-income countries.
Some of the countries are skeptical about going along with the measures advocated by the Biden administration, such as controlling foreign investment in China.
The policies are designed in part to bar China’s military from accessing tools it could use to gain technological superiority, and many in the Biden administration see them as adjuncts to export controls restricting access to some semiconductors serving the same goal have.
“Of course, to some extent, each member of the G7 will have their own path on China, and yet there are also a number of principles that unify the G7 in a common approach toward China,” the US official said.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who was traveling to Japan for the G7 financial meeting, said Thursday that China has clearly used economic coercion on Australia and Lithuania.
The meeting was marred by a lack of progress in resolving the US debt ceiling standoff. A meeting between Biden and top lawmakers scheduled for Friday has been pushed back to early next week as Biden’s Democrats and Republicans seek a compromise to avoid a catastrophic default.
However, US officials expect the president to attend the two-day summit as scheduled, followed by trips to Papua New Guinea and Australia, also aimed at strengthening Washington’s approach towards the China-dominated Asia-Pacific region.
Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Edited by Heather Timmons
Our standards: The Thomson Portal Trust Principles.