G7 leaders are planning to issue a statement of concern about China’s use of economic leverage abroad when they gather next week, a US official familiar with the discussions said.
The statement, a likely component of the overall communique that would be released by leaders during the summit in Hiroshima, Japan, from Friday to Sunday is expected to be paired with a broader written proposal for how the seven advanced economies would work together to counter “economic coercion” from any country.
The main G7 statement is set to include “a section specific to China” with a list of concerns that include “economic coercion and other behavior that we have seen specifically from the [People’s Republic of China],” the official said.
Photo: REUTERS
A separate “economic security statement will speak more to tools” used to counter those efforts, including planning and coordination, they said.
In each case, these statements are expected to go further than prior statements by the G7 on the topic.
US President Joe Biden has made China a focus of his foreign policy, working to keep the tense and competitive relationship from veering into one of open conflict, including over Taiwan.
The G7, which also includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy and the UK, is closely tied economically to China, the world’s biggest exporter and a key market for many of their companies.
FORMER ALLY
Separately, Honduras said it would soon begin negotiating a trade deal with China, marking the latest step toward stronger bilateral ties between the two nations after Honduras broke off relations with Taiwan.
Honduran Minister of Foreign Affairs Eduardo Enrique Reina told a news conference that the goal is to launch talks soon and eventually sign a free-trade deal with China.
“It will be good news and [offer] opportunities for access to our products to China,” Reina said.
In March, Tegucigalpa severed its decades-old diplomatic ties with Taiwan, after Honduran President Xiomara Castro opted for relations with China in a bid for more investment and jobs.
Coffee would be the first Honduran export to the Chinese market, Reina said, adding that both countries are also evaluating future shipments of shrimp and melon to China.
Honduras is one of Central America’s top coffee growers.
Reina said that China has also expressed interest in buying Honduran beef and bananas, among other products.
In April, the diplomat said that Honduras also hopes to reach agreements with China to lighten the nation’s debt burden with the support of financial organizations from its new partner.
CROSS-STRAIT COLLABORATION: The new KMT chairwoman expressed interest in meeting the Chinese president from the start, but she’ll have to pay to get in Beijing allegedly agreed to let Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) around the Lunar New Year holiday next year on three conditions, including that the KMT block Taiwan’s arms purchases, a source said yesterday. Cheng has expressed interest in meeting Xi since she won the KMT’s chairmanship election in October. A source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a consensus on a meeting was allegedly reached after two KMT vice chairmen visited China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Director Song Tao (宋濤) in China last month. Beijing allegedly gave the KMT three conditions it had to
STAYING ALERT: China this week deployed its largest maritime show of force to date in the region, prompting concern in Taipei and Tokyo, which Beijing has brushed off Deterring conflict over Taiwan is a priority, the White House said in its National Security Strategy published yesterday, which also called on Japan and South Korea to increase their defense spending to help protect the first island chain. Taiwan is strategically positioned between Northeast and Southeast Asia, and provides direct access to the second island chain, with one-third of global shipping passing through the South China Sea, the report said. Given the implications for the US economy, along with Taiwan’s dominance in semiconductors, “deterring a conflict over Taiwan, ideally by preserving military overmatch, is a priority,” it said. However, the strategy also reiterated
‘BALANCE OF POWER’: Hegseth said that the US did not want to ‘strangle’ China, but to ensure that none of Washington’s allies would be vulnerable to military aggression Washington has no intention of changing the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Saturday, adding that one of the US military’s main priorities is to deter China “through strength, not through confrontation.” Speaking at the annual Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California, Hegseth outlined the US Department of Defense’s priorities under US President Donald Trump. “First, defending the US homeland and our hemisphere. Second, deterring China through strength, not confrontation. Third, increased burden sharing for us, allies and partners. And fourth, supercharging the US defense industrial base,” he said. US-China relations under
The Chien Feng IV (勁蜂, Mighty Hornet) loitering munition is on track to enter flight tests next month in connection with potential adoption by Taiwanese and US armed forces, a government source said yesterday. The kamikaze drone, which boasts a range of 1,000km, debuted at the Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition in September, the official said on condition of anonymity. The Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology and US-based Kratos Defense jointly developed the platform by leveraging the engine and airframe of the latter’s MQM-178 Firejet target drone, they said. The uncrewed aerial vehicle is designed to utilize an artificial intelligence computer
RSS