Beijing accuses G7 nations of collaborating to ‘smear and attack’ China

Beijing has accused the Group of Seven (G7) nations of collaborating to “smear and attack” China after the weekend summit issued a communique that warned Beijing over its “militarisation activities” in the Asia-Pacific region.

Leaders of industrialised countries at Hiroshima, Japan, summit also agreed to take tough action against “economic coercion” from China. They outlined a shared approach to “de-risk, not decouple” economic engagement with China in the Saturday communique.

China vice foreign minister Sun Weidong summoned the Japanese ambassador to register protests over “hype around China-related issues” at the G7 summit over the weekend, a ministry statement late on Sunday said.

The heads of the world’s leading democracies expressed serious concerns about rising tensions in East and South China Seas as well as voicing concerns about the human rights situations in China, including in Tibet and Xinjiang.

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Mr Sun said Japan collaborated with the other countries at the G7 summit “in activities and joint declarations ... to smear and attack China, grossly interfering in China’s internal affairs, violating the basic principles of international law and the spirit of the four political documents between China and Japan,” referring to the China-Japan Joint Statement of 1972.

He said Japan's actions were detrimental to China's sovereignty, security and development interests, and that China is “strongly dissatisfied and firmly opposes” them.

Hideo Tarumi, Japanese ambassador to China, rebutted that it is “natural” for the G7 to refer to issues of common concern as it has done in the past and will continue to do so in the future as long as China does not change its behaviour, according to a readout.

“China should first take positive steps to address those issues of concerns if China demands not to refer to them,” Mr Tarumi told Mr Sun, according to the readout.

The Chinese embassy in Britain had earlier asked London to stop slandering and smearing China to avoid further damage to China-UK relations. – Reuters