BEIJING: G7’s accusations against China’s nuclear policy are complete false narratives, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Monday during a regular press briefing.
She reiterated that China is committed to a self-defensive nuclear strategy in response to G7 leaders’ accusation against China for “accelerating build-up of its nuclear arsenal without transparency nor meaningful dialogue.”
China sticks to the policy of no-first-use of nuclear weapons and keeps those capabilities at the minimum level required by national security, Mao said, echoing Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong’s remarks on Sunday as he summoned Japanese Ambassador to China Hideo Tarumi to lodge representations over the G7 Hiroshima Summit.
“China is the only one among the five nuclear weapon states to have made those pledges,” Sun underscored.
In response to accusation on China’s transparency, the spokesperson vowed that any country that does not use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against China will not be threatened by China’s nuclear weapons.
The G7 is in no position to dictate to other countries on nuclear arms control, she said, adding that the U.S. possesses the world’s largest and most advanced nuclear arsenal, yet it adheres to the policy of first use of nuclear weapons and proliferates weapons-grade highly enriched uranium to non-nuclear-weapon states.
Three of the G7 members are nuclear weapon states, and the remaining four participate in nuclear sharing or sit under a nuclear umbrella, she added.
China has strongly pushed back against a harshly toned G7 communiqué, saying what the group does is to hinder international peace, undermine regional stability and curb other countries’ development. Experts slammed the communiqué saying that the G7 has descended to an echo chamber of US talking points. Such a statement fails to reflect all members’ dignity and autonomy, they said.
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong summoned Japanese Ambassador to China Tarumi Hideo on Sunday, and lodged solemn representations over the hyping up of China-related issues at the G7 summit being held in Hiroshima, Japan.
Entrenched by camp confrontation and Cold War mentality, the actions of the G7 group went against the historic trend, objective facts and international morality, Sun pointed out.
Japan, as the holder of the rotating presidency of the G7 this year, collaborated with relevant countries to smear and attack China during a series of activities and in the joint communiqué of the G7 Summit, grossly interfering in China’s internal affairs, violating the basic principles of international law and the spirit of the four political documents between China and Japan, and harming China’s sovereignty, security and development interests, Sun noted.
The Chinese Embassy in Japan on Saturday also expressed strong opposition to the G7’s irresponsible comments on China, and urged the group to reflect on itself and stop creating confrontations and divisions.
The Chinese Embassy in the UK and the Chinese Ambassador to Canada, Cong Peiwu, also fired back at the G7’s manipulation of China-related issues, urging them to abandon their Cold War mentality. They warned that any actions or statements that harm China’s interests will be met with a resolute and forceful response.
Talking against China
Chinese observers view the G7 communiqué as a US-dominated document, in which other members just tagged along and did not show their expected autonomy and dignity. The document, which has placed China at the center of all key topics of interest, be it economic or security concerns, poses serious threats to global stability and peace.
In the communiqué, which was issued on the second day of the three-day summit, heads of the G7 nations said they will seek to “address the challenges” posed by China’s non-market policies and practices, which distort the global economy. They said they will counter “malign practices, such as illegitimate technology transfer or data disclosure,” as well as “foster resilience to economic coercion.”
Chen Jia, a veteran macro economy observer, said that it’s “ironic” that the G7 members’ attitude toward China is turning hawkish at a time when the summit carries the objective of global peace, stability and prosperity.
According to Chen, although the US appears to have emphasized on multiple occasions that they are not intending to decouple from China, judging from what the US government does in reality, it is doing otherwise.
“Decoupling and de-risking are gradually becoming two pillar concepts in the G7’s relations with China, with the US being the core, although it seems Washington doesn’t want to acknowledge that, in order to avoid intensifying contradictions with Beijing,” Chen told the Global Times on Sunday.
Under such an environment, the G7 is increasingly bending to US pressure, becoming a group with “strategic alignment” against China, experts noted.
Qiu Wenxu, director of Industry Development Department at the Alliance of Belt and Road Business Schools said that since the G7’s Build Back Better World (B3W), an initiative launched in 2021 which is deemed as an alternative to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) did not materialize, many developing countries are clear that G7 members are declining in economy and influence.
“As the world has gradually lost expectations over G7 countries, answering the US’ requests and talking against China have become their new ‘consensus.’ But I think although many G7 nations make such gestures, they still cling to rational decisions out of their own interests [when it comes to China-related policies] in action,” Qiu told the Global Times.
According to Qiu, if the G7 nations ignore economic rules and decide to go down the route of protectionism, it would exert a negative influence on the existing global industrial structure, as well as hurt their own industries’ competitiveness.
Replicate Ukraine crisis
Lü Xiang, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told that the US is happy to see tension between Russia and Ukraine continue, as the ongoing crisis helps Washington to tighten its grip on Europe, thus even though Zelensky was present at the G7, Biden is the one behind the wheel.
The US’ push to heavily foreground China and Russia at the G7 summit is a way to create another Ukraine crisis in the Asia-Pacific region, Li Haidong, a professor with the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times. “No doubt, the US strategy is to deepen divisions among Asian countries, and even launch a proxy war in Asia, similar to what it did in the Middle East and Europe. It is pulling Japan and South Korea to its side to act as its vassals, which is alarming,” Li said.
Li said that Japan’s role in the G7 is worth noting, as the country, more envious about China’s growing influence in region, is acting as a US vassal in region to confront China and is egging on other extraterritorial countries to interfere in regional affairs, to amplify its power to counterweigh China.
In a move some analysts said was aimed at Beijing, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida invited eight non-member countries to the summit in a bid to expand the US-led coalition’s influence among China’s Asian neighbors and developing countries.
Li said that Japan has been shrouded by an unhealthy mentality of buttering up to the US. Take the G7 summit as an example, Japan seems always to worry that its loyalty toward the US is not shown enough, and that it has not devoted enough to the US’ Asia-Pacific strategy.
Experts warned that since Japan has already caused substantial damage to regional countries during World War II, its expansion of militarism and acting as US vassal will deeply alert regional countries, and Tokyo will make itself a “country non grata” in this area once again.
