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G7 summit: ‘unprecedented’ united front piles pressure on China, analysts say
- Greater consensus poses concerns for Beijing and could make it harder to disrupt ties between the US and Europe
- Leaders raised trade issues, human rights concerns in Xinjiang and Hong Kong, and called for new Covid-19 origins probe
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The G7 took its most forceful stand in decades to call out China on human rights and trade issues, as Beijing faces pushback for leveraging differences in how far countries are willing to go to confront it, analysts say.
There was a “spectrum” of willingness to push Beijing at the Group of 7 summit over the weekend, according to senior US officials, but its joint communique used harsher and more extensive language on China than in the past.
While acknowledging cooperation with China in areas such as climate change, the G7 raised issues with Beijing’s trade practices and human rights concerns in Xinjiang and Hong Kong.
It also called for a new investigation into the origins of Covid-19 and for the first time emphasised peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.
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Not all G7 leaders took as tough a stance as Joe Biden – seeking a return to American leadership on his first trip abroad as US president – but analysts say their greater consensus on China poses serious concerns for Beijing.
It could make it more challenging for China to disrupt transnational ties between the US and Europe as it faces increasing scepticism from the West.
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Li Mingjiang, an associate professor with the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, said there was growing unity within the G7 on China, with more efforts to compete with Beijing in areas such as vaccine provision, infrastructure development, trade and technology.
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