Apr 16, 2023

China Tensions High on Agenda as Top G-7 Diplomats Meet in Japan

Iain Marlow, Bloomberg News

Police officers close a barricade on a road near the venue of G7 Foreign Minister's meeting in Karuizawa town of Nagano prefecture on April 16, 2023. Photographer: Yuichi Yamazaki/AFP/Getty Images , Photographer: YUICHI YAMAZAKI/AFP

(Bloomberg) -- Tensions over China will be high on the agenda as top diplomats from Group of Seven nations meet over the next two days in Japan, according to a senior State Department official.

Geopolitical challenges in Asia are set to come into greater focus now that Japan holds the rotating G-7 presidency, the official told reporters ahead of the foreign ministers’ meeting, which comes about a month before US President Joe Biden and other leaders will head to Hiroshima for the annual leaders summit.

Tensions over Taiwan in particular are demanding attention after China again held military drills around the island following President Tsai Ing-wen’s meeting with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Around the same time, French President Emmanuel Macron said the European Union should avoid being dragged into a dispute with China by the US, highlighting divisions within the bloc.

Underscoring the friction, the US Navy said it sent a warship through the Taiwan Strait on Sunday, a move China called a publicity stunt.

Macron’s courtship of President Xi Jinping, which included a state dinner and a rare visit outside the capital to the southern city of Guangzhou, contrasted with testy exchanges that marked German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock’s trip to Beijing last week. In a joint briefing with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, she warned that a military escalation in the Taiwan Strait would be a “horror scenario.”

Josep Borrell, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, sought to play down any differences of the bloc, telling reporters on Sunday that nations have the same approach even though they might use different terms like “strategic autonomy” and “derisking.” The EU wishes to deescalate tensions over Taiwan, he said, adding that any move to change the status quo by force is unacceptable.

“If EU wants to speak the language of power, wants to be a political player and wants to be a new pole, then everything that happens everywhere in the world matters to us,” Borrell said. “In the Taiwan Strait in particular, we have a specific interest.”

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, who visited Beijing at the beginning of the month, said during a working dinner on Sunday that G-7 members should express concerns directly with China and urge its leaders to act as a responsible member of the international community, according to a statement.

“We should continue to communicate with China and cooperate with them on global issues and areas of mutual interest,” he said.

Foreign ministers in Japan will compare notes from various recent visits to Beijing while seeking to find a common approach to the world’s second-biggest economy on issues like Taiwan, human rights, economic coercion and US moves to restrict China’s access to advanced technology like computer chips.

G-7 foreign ministers will also discuss how to ensure Ukraine has weapons and other defensive equipment it needs over the long term, the State Department official said, noting that the meeting is occurring as Russian war efforts stall and ahead of a reported Ukrainian counteroffensive.

Russian President Vladimir Putin met on Sunday with Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu as the nations continued to strengthen strategic ties. Putin praised cooperation between the two militaries, highlighting exchanges of intelligence and joint maneuvers in Asia and Europe, the Interfax news service reported.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who scuttled a planned visit to Beijing after an alleged Chinese spy balloon flew over the US, downplayed concerns that leaks of highly classified information will stir distrust within the G-7.

“Based on the conversations I’ve had, I have not heard anything that would affect our cooperation with allies and partners,” Blinken told reporters in Hanoi on Saturday after holding meetings with senior officials in Vietnam. He and other foreign ministers were set to arrive on Sunday to the Japanese resort town of Karuizawa for meetings through Tuesday.

Besides China, the official said, foreign ministers will talk about North Korea and ways to deepen ties with Southeast Asian nations as well as the Quad, which includes the US, India, Japan and Australia.

There will also be extended discussions on how the G-7 can spur more global infrastructure building in developing nations across Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America, the official said, adding that some announcements are planned for next month during the leaders’ summit.

The G-7 includes the US, Japan, Germany, France, the UK, Canada and Italy.

--With assistance from Philip Glamann.

(Updates with US sending warship through the Taiwan Strait.)