(CNN) World leaders gathered in Japan vowed to “confront economic coercion” on Saturday in a thinly veiled warning against China as they took aim at Russia directly in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine where President Volodymyr Zelensky made a dramatic appearance.
The G7 talks in Hiroshima are looking for common ground on a range of global issues, including how to confront. Beijing’s growing army And economic stress as well as the war in Europe.
Differences remain between the United States and Europe over how to manage their increasingly fraught relations with China, the world’s second largest economy.
But in a joint statement Saturday, the leaders spoke with one voice on a series of positions regarding China, including the need to confront “economic coercion” and protect advanced technologies that could threaten national security, while also stressing that cooperation with Beijing is essential. .
“A growing China that plays by international rules will be of global benefit. We are not decoupling or inward-looking,” the statement said.
The leaders called on Beijing not to “conduct interference activities” that could undermine “the integrity of our democratic institutions and our economic prosperity” — an apparent reference to recent allegations that Beijing meddled in Canadian elections and operates a network of overseas police stations across the country. the world.
They also agreed on new levels of coordination on ensuring their economic security against “coercive” and “malicious” practices in a separate statement that referred to Russia, a day after the G7 members revealed a set of tough sanctions against Moscow.
Zelensky’s aircraft
Russia remains a major focus at this weekend’s meeting, which was provided with an additional jolt of drama with the appearance of Zelensky, who will address the leaders. in person on Sunday.
“Japan. G7. Important meetings with partners and friends of Ukraine. Security and enhanced cooperation for our victory. Peace will be closer today,” Zelensky wrote on Twitter, moments after a French government plane carrying the wartime leader landed at Hiroshima airport.
His presence underscores the urgent need to preserve Western unity in the face of Russian aggression. There are growing concerns that Ukraine’s political support may be waning, adding urgency to Zelensky’s calls for more advanced weaponry and tougher sanctions against Moscow.
At Friday’s G7 meetings, Biden told his counterparts he was dropping objections to supplying Ukrainians with F16 fighter jets and would train Ukrainian pilots in the United States, a major advance in US military support to the country.
Biden is expected to unveil a $375 million military aid package for Ukraine after hearing the summit from Zelensky, officials familiar with the matter said. But the leaders grapple with a wide range of issues outside the war-torn country during their talks, including climate. Change and Emerging Artificial Intelligence Technologies.
The joint statement condemned “in the strongest possible terms” the Russian war and reiterated the G7’s support for Ukraine “for as long as possible”.
A joint approach to China?
One of the main developments from Saturday’s events was the joint statement on economic security, which did not specifically mention China — while explicitly referring to Russia — but whose intended audience was unmistakably Beijing’s leadership.
Leaders have called for strengthening supply chain resilience, responding to “harmful industrial subsidies,” and protecting sensitive technologies critical to national security — all areas where leaders have expressed concerns in recent years regarding China’s economic practices.
Western leaders and officials were more direct in framing the actions as a response to China’s threats in comments made about the statement.
Ahead of its release on Saturday, the UK issued a statement on G7 measures against economic coercion, which noted China’s use of “its economic power to coerce countries including Australia and Lithuania over political disputes.”
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in the statement released by Downing Street, which also referred to the “weaponisation” of Russia. energy supply in Europe.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen welcomed the G7’s action in a statement on Saturday that countries should be “aware of the risk of weaponizing interlinkages”, but she “urged not to take risks and not to detach” – a term she used to indicate how the EU should To approach its economic relationship with China.
China has already backtracked before the G7 discussions, with its foreign ministry on Thursday publishing a 5,000-plus-word document on its website dating back to 1960s Cuba to cite what it described as examples of “coercive US diplomacy and its applications”. Damage.”
“The United States often accuses other countries of using great power status, coercive policies and economic coercion to pressure other countries into submission and engage in coercive diplomacy,” said foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin at a regular press briefing in Beijing on Friday.
“The truth is that the United States is the origin of coercive diplomacy. Only the United States and the United States own the copyright to coercive diplomacy,” he said, adding that China “has no taste for coercion and bullying.”
debt ceiling
Climate change was also a major topic at this weekend’s meeting with the joint statement including a pledge that the G7 will lead the economic transition to clean energy.
“We are committed to realizing the transformation of the economic and social system towards net-zero, circular, climate-resilient, pollution-free and nature-positive economies,” the statement read.
The leaders also indicated that they will closely monitor the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI), by driving discussions on AI governance and interoperability in line with “shared democratic values”.
Biden balances world leader talks with updates from Confrontation over the US debt ceiling In Washington – “a topic of interest” at the president’s summit meetings, according to Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan.
World leaders from the Group of Seven and countries invited in Hiroshima on May 20, 2023
“States want to have a sense of how these negotiations are going. And the president has expressed confidence that he thinks we can come to a conclusion where we avoid default, and part of the reason he’s coming home tomorrow, rather than continuing with the rest of the trip, He is so he can help lead the effort to bring her home.”
Speaking to reporters as he met with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Japan, Biden said he was “not concerned at all” about negotiations with House Republicans to avoid default.
“This is being done in stages,” Biden said. “I’ve been involved in these negotiations before.”
Biden, who left a leaders’ dinner early Friday to return to his hotel to receive additional information from staff, was given constant updates on the ongoing negotiations in Washington.
CNN’s Phil Mattingly contributed to this report.
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