Top diplomats from G7 nations sought to project unity on China and other issues after French President Emmanuel Macron stirred unease across the bloc with a conciliatory tone on a recent trip to Beijing.
“The last day has only reinforced the convergence of views that we have on the approach to the most important issues of the day,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said alongside French Minister of Foreign Affairs Catherine Colonna, following a meeting in the mountain resort of Karuizawa, Japan.
The statement of harmony masked differences behind the scenes that spilled into the open following Macron’s state visit to Beijing, after which he said the EU should avoid being dragged into a dispute with China by the US.
Photo: AP
The trip amounted to a diplomatic coup for Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), who has sought to divide the US and its long-time allies.
German Minister of Foreign Affairs Annalena Baerbock, who also attended the meetings in Japan, struck a starkly different tone during and after her own trip to Beijing last week.
While Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Qin Gang (秦剛) sought to impress her, including with a trip from his hometown of Tianjin to Beijing, Baerbock emerged more skeptical with China than before, a person familiar with her thinking said.
Baerbock felt lectured by Qin and was disappointed that China’s leadership was not willing to call Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as part of a peace plan from Xi that many Western nations see as pro-Russian, the person said.
Baerbock yesterday underscored that Germany would not compromise on its values when it comes to engaging with China.
In response to a question on Taiwan, she said that “Europe won’t look away” if international law is violated.
“I made clear in China: We want to cooperate, we want to be partners, but we are not naive,” she told reporters in Japan.
Baerbock and her French counterpart both briefed their colleagues on Sunday night about their China visits as part of attempt to coordinate messaging on how the EU should approach the world’s second-biggest economy, a person familiar with the calls said.
They agreed on an approach that emphasized trying to cooperate with Beijing wherever possibly, while derisking their economic reliance on China and sending clear signals that Chinese weapon deliveries to Russia — as well as military escalation with Taiwan — would be unacceptable, the person said.
The G7 has translated its close coordination on arming Ukrainian forces over the past year into a renewed dialogue on the challenges presented by China, a senior US Department of State official told reporters yesterday evening.
The group sees the need to stay engaged with China while standing up against any coercive measures or efforts to change the “status quo” in Taiwan, the official said.
Ahead of a G7 leaders’ summit in Hiroshima, Japan, next month, the foreign ministers also discussed how to provide critical infrastructure investments across the developing world to give countries a high-quality alternative to Chinese investments, the official said.
The ministers agreed at a session yesterday that there should be regular talks within the G7 framework on the Indo-Pacific region to strengthen coordination with Southeast Asian nations and others in the region, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
Standing together on China is “extremely important,” Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Yoshimasa Hayashi said in a statement following a working dinner with other foreign ministers on Sunday night.
Japan and the UK will “continue to coordinate closely in addressing issues related to China,” he said after a bilateral meeting yesterday with British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs James Cleverly.
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