G7 summit: leaders pledge to counter China’s ‘malign’ practices and tackle economic coercion
- Leaders vow to reduce supply chain dependency, tackle ‘non-market policies and practices’ and ensure attempts to weaponise economic dependency fail
- Beijing says leaders attending summit in Hiroshima, Japan are ‘vilifying China’ and ‘violently meddling’ in its internal affairs
A statement about the plan to tackle coercion and protect the economies of the group and its allies did not name China or any other country.
However, the communique issued at the end of the summit in Hiroshima, Japan said the group of advanced economies would act to reduce its dependency on China in critical supply chains.
“We will seek to address the challenges posed by China’s non-market policies and practices, which distort the global economy,” the communique read.
“We will counter malign practices, such as illegitimate technology transfer or data disclosure.”
The leaders from Japan, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and the United States denied they were “decoupling” from China but instead trying to “derisk” the relationship.
“We also recognise the necessity of protecting certain advanced technologies that could be used to threaten our national security without unduly limiting trade and investment,” they said.