Japan Ambassador summoned, Chinese Paper calls G7- “Anti China Workshop”, Chinese Embassy hits out at UK
The Communist Party of China-backed mouthpiece, Global Times labelled the G7 summit as an “anti-China workshop” on Monday. In an editorial piece called “G7 has descended into an ‘anti-China workshop’”, Global Times went all out at the G7 summit, calling foul play by the G7 nations with regards to its talks on China.
The editorial comes a day after Beijing summoned Japan’s ambassador to China in an act of protest against the G7 summit host, Japan. It also follows the Chinese Embassy in the United Kingdom urging London to stop slandering and smearing China, to avoid further damage to Sino-Britian relations.
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The article, which was published by the state-backed Global Times, said that The United States of America is pressing for an ‘anti-China’ net. It also said that “This is not just a matter of brutal interference in China’s internal affairs and smearing China, but also an undisguised urge for confrontation between the camps.”
G7 Discusses China
In announcements made on Saturday, the Group of Seven (G7) singled out China on topics such as Taiwan, nuclear weapons, economic pressure, and human rights violations, highlighting the long-standing tensions between Beijing and the group of 7 wealthy nations, which also includes the United States of America.
The G7 statement, which also includes Japan, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, and Italy, was strongly opposed by Beijing’s foreign ministry, which said late Sunday that it had summoned Japan’s ambassador to China in an act of objection to the summit host.
The main communique from the group was released a day earlier than usual and mentioned China at a high of 20 times, the highest that we have seen in the recent period, a tremendous 42 per cent increase from 14 mentions last year.
Japanese Envoy Summoned
Sun Weidong, former China Ambassador to India and Pakistan and now China’s Vice Foreign Minister, claimed that Japan worked with the other G7 members at the summit to smear and attack China and interfere in its internal affairs, also breaking the principles of the Sino-Japanese Joint Statement of 1972, a part of the normalization talks held between the two countries in that year.
According to a readout, Japan’s ambassador to China, Hideo Tarumi, who was summoned by Weidong to register complaints over the “hype around China-related issues”, said that it was natural for the group to talk about and refer to the problems of common concern, as has been followed hitherto by the G7 and will also continue to do so in the future, as long as China does not alter its behaviour.
Additionally, Hirokazu Matsuno, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary said today that the nation’s policy regarding China has been consistent and that while taking action to resolve concerns and working together on shared challenges, Japan will insist on what is necessary and encourage responsible behaviour.
Chinese Embassy Hits Out at Britain
The Chinese Embassy in Britain on Sunday asked the UK to stop slandering and smearing China, to steer clear of any further harm to relations between China and the United Kingdom.
“The relevant remarks by the British side are simply parroting words from others and constitute malicious slanders in disregard of the facts.” The Embassy also added that China opposes the aforementioned
The remark comes following a session of the G7 where British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stated that China poses the greatest threat to global security and development but that the other top economies shouldn’t decouple from it.
