China expresses extreme dissatisfaction and strong protest in connection with the statements made against it at the G7 summit in England, according to the statement of the press secretary of the PRC Embassy in Great Britain, published on the diplomatic mission’s website.
Following the G7 summit, which was held in Cornwall in southern England from 11 to 13 June, the G7 spoke in favor of continuing cooperation with China on issues of common interest, but called on the Chinese authorities to respect human rights, especially in Xinjiang and Hong Kong. The G7 leaders stressed the “importance of maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the peaceful resolution of regional problems,” and also expressed concern over the situation in the East China and South China Seas.
“The communiqué following the G7 summit contains distorted facts about the situation around Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Taiwan, the true is presented as false, China is deliberately denigrated. This is gross interference in China’s internal affairs, a serious violation of the basic principles of international relations. <…> We express extreme discontent and a strong protest”, – the statement said.
The embassy spokesman also noted that “the COVID-19 epidemic continues to rage in the world, the global economic recovery remains sluggish, and global challenges such as climate change are becoming more visible”.
He stressed that against this background, the international community needs the unity and cooperation of all, but the summit showed the world an example of a bloc policy and a policy of force, which artificially creates confrontation and division.
“We urge the United States and other G7 members to respect the facts, stop slandering China, refrain from interfering in internal affairs and stop undermining China’s interests”, – the statement said.
Earlier, US Assistant to the President for National Security Jake Sullivan said that the G7 countries have reached a significant agreement on China. China poses a significant challenge to world democracies in many dimensions, he said. Sullivan noted that each country has expressed its concerns about China on different issues, at different levels. He added that the G7 leaders used the same words about the PRC – “resist” and “compete”.
French President Emmanuel Macron, at the end of the summit, in turn, said that the G7 group is not hostile towards China. At the same time, he stressed that the PRC is an economic competitor, from which the G7 expects full compliance with the rules of international trade established by the World Trade Organization (WTO). The G7 summit was the first face-to-face meeting of the G7 leaders in almost two years. The G7 includes the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the US and the EU.