The G7 on Sunday said that time was running out for Iran to agree to a deal to curb its nuclear ambitions and warned Russia of “massive” consequences if it invades Ukraine, while the US secretary of state next flew to Southeast Asia as part of Washington’s push for peace and stability in the region.
G7 foreign ministers held a two-day meeting in Liverpool, England, seeking to present a strong, united front against global threats.
On Iran, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs Liz Truss said that resumed talks in Vienna were the Islamic republic’s “last chance to come to the negotiating table with a serious resolution.”
Photo: Reuters
The final communique from the talks said that Iran “must stop its nuclear escalation and seize the opportunity to conclude a deal, while this is still possible.”
Talks restarted on Thursday.
Truss’ comments are the first time a signatory to the original deal has given such an ultimatum.
Russia’s troop buildup on the border with Ukraine dominated talks, given the invasion fears.
Truss said there was “very much a united voice ... that there will be massive consequences for Russia in the case of an incursion into Ukraine.”
In the final communique, ministers unanimously backed Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.
All options, including wide-ranging political and economic sanctions, are on the table if Russia ignores a diplomatic solution, officials said.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken flew on to Southeast Asia as part of Washington’s push for “peace, security and prosperity” in the Indo-Pacific region.
Britain’s G7 presidency this year has been dominated by responding to Beijing’s alleged widespread domestic rights abuses, as well as creeping authoritarianism in Hong Kong.
Earlier this week, a panel of human rights experts and lawyers in London said that the Chinese government had committed genocide in Xinjiang by imposing population controls on minority Muslim Uighurs.
The Chinese government rejected the report, accusing it of an “anti-China” bias.
ASEAN ministers took part in talks with the G7 for the first time, with grave concerns about security in the South China Sea.
Truss said she and her counterparts were concerned about China’s “coercive economic policies,” and there was a need to counter them with their own initiatives as an alternative.
“What we want to do is build the investment reach, the economic trade reach of like-minded freedom-loving democracies,” she said. “That is why we’re stepping up our investment into low and middle-income countries.”
In Taipei, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday welcomed the G7 ministers’ joint communique and thanked them for attaching importance to peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, while warning against Beijing’s “coercive economic policies.”
The ministry issued the statement after the G7 communique released after Sunday’s meeting doubled down on remarks the ministers had made in May and June on the importance of safeguarding peace and stability across the Strait.
Taiwan would continue to work with G7 members and like-minded nations in support of democratic developments and peace in the Indo-Pacific region, it added.
Additional reporting by CNA
A subsidiary of a Hong Kong-based company that has lost control of two critical ports on the Panama Canal said it is seeking US$2 billion of compensation in damages from Panama over its “illegal” takeover of the ports. Panama Ports Co, a unit of Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison Holdings (長江和記實業), on Friday said in a statement that it is demanding the sum under international arbitration proceedings that it had already started. The Panamanian government last week seized control of the Balboa and Cristobal ports on each end of the Panama Canal, after the country’s Supreme Court declared earlier that a concession allowing
DETERRENCE: With 1,000 indigenous Hsiung Feng II and III missiles and 400 Harpoon missiles, the nation would boast the highest anti-ship missile density in the world With Taiwan wrapping up mass production of Hsiung Feng II and III missiles by December and an influx of Harpoon missiles from the US, Taiwan would have the highest density of anti-ship missiles in the world, a source said yesterday. Taiwan is to wrap up mass production of the indigenous anti-ship missiles by the end of year, as the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology has been meeting production targets ahead of schedule, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said. Combined with the 400 Harpoon anti-ship missiles Taiwan expects to receive from the US by 2028, the nation would have
POSSIBILITIES EMERGE: With Taiwan’s victory and Japan’s narrow win over Australia, Taiwan now have a chance to advance if South Korea also beat the Aussies Taiwan has high hopes that the national baseball team would advance to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarter-finals after clinching a crucial 5-4 victory over South Korea in a nail-biting extra-inning game at the Tokyo Dome yesterday. Boosted by three home runs — two solo shots by Yu Chang (張育成) and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) and a two-run homer by Stuart Fairchild — the triumph gave Taiwan a much-needed second victory in the five-team Pool C, where only the top two finishers would advance to the knockout stage in Miami, Florida. Entering extra innings with the game tied at four apiece, Taiwan scored
MISSION OF PEACE: The foreign minister urged Beijing to respect Taiwan’s existence as an independent nation, and work together to ensure peace and stability in the region Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday rejected Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi’s (王毅) comments about Taiwan, criticizing China as a “troublemaker” in the international community and a disruptor of cross-strait peace. Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the Chinese National People’s Congress, Wang said that Taiwan has always been a territory of China and that it would be impossible for it to become its own country. The “return” of Taiwan to China was the natural outcome of the Chinese people’s resistance against Japan in World War II, and that any pursuit of independence was “doomed
RSS