Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credit: FLORENCE LO / POOL / AFP 16:49 pm, May 20, 2023

China expressed "strong dissatisfaction" on Saturday after the publication of a G7 statement addressing several grievances on the South China Sea, human rights and alleged interference. "This approach does not have the slightest international credibility," a Chinese spokesman said.

China on Saturday expressed its "strong dissatisfaction" after the G7 issued a statement addressing several criticisms on the South China Sea, human rights and alleged interference. A summit of the leaders of the seven main industrialized democracies (Canada, France, United States, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom) has been held since Friday in the Japanese city of Hiroshima, in the presence of US President Joe Biden.

The G7 communiqué calls on China "not to carry out interference" activities in its member countries and expresses its "concerns" on human rights "especially in Tibet and Xinjiang". The signatories stressed "the importance of peace and stability on both sides of the Taiwan Strait" and said they were "gravely concerned" by the situation in the South China Sea, indirectly accusing China of "coercion".

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On the war in Ukraine, the G7 also urges Beijing, Moscow's close economic and diplomatic partner which has so far maintained a position of neutrality, to "put pressure on Russia to stop its aggression". "The G7 persists in manipulating China-related issues, discrediting and attacking China," a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a statement on Saturday.

G7 'hinders world peace'

"China expresses its strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition and has lodged an official protest with Japan, the host country of the summit, as well as other relevant parties." On Taiwan, the ministry accuses the G7 countries of pointing their fingers only at Beijing and not showing clear opposition to the Taiwanese independence movement. "The G7 trumpets that it intends to move towards a peaceful, stable and prosperous world. But in fact, it hinders world peace, harms regional stability and inhibits the development of other countries," the Chinese spokesperson said.

"This approach has no international credibility whatsoever." The G7 communiqué is the result of negotiations between countries such as the United States, which have a firmer stance amid growing tensions with China, and others, on the European side, which insist on avoiding any "confrontation" with Beijing.