BEIJING: China strongly deplores and firmly opposes the G7 allegations of the South China Sea and China’s economic policies, and has lodged serious protests to the Canadian side, the Chinese Embassy in Canada said on Saturday.
The Statement of the G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting and G7 Foreign Ministers Declaration on Maritime Security and Prosperity “grossly interfered in China’s internal affairs, and maliciously slandered and smeared China,” said a spokesperson of the embassy.
China firmly safeguards its territorial sovereignty, maritime rights and interests, and resolutely opposes the G7’s misdeeds of harming China’s sovereignty, the spokesperson said.
Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory. The Taiwan question is purely an internal affair of China, which brooks no external interference, the spokesperson said, adding that the key to upholding peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits lies in abiding by the one-China principle, and firmly opposing the Taiwan secessionists.
The Taiwan region’s participation in the activities of international organizations must and can only be handled in line with the one-China principle. Currently, the situation in the East China Sea and the South China Sea is generally stable. The South China Sea is one of the safest and freest maritime passages in the world, the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson emphasized that the Asia-Pacific region is a promising land of peace and development, not a chessboard for geopolitical rivalries. The G7 should earnestly respect regional countries’ efforts for peace and stability, abandon the Cold War mentality, and stop creating bloc confrontation and fueling tensions in the region.
The spokesperson reiterated that China is not a creator of or a party to the Ukraine crisis, and has never provided weapons to any party of the conflict. On the contrary, the G7 members are constantly pouring fuel on the fire, so it is in no position to scapegoat China.
“China follows a policy of ‘no first use’ of nuclear weapons and a nuclear strategy that focuses on self-defense, and always keeps its nuclear capabilities at the minimum level required for national security, with no intention to engage in arms race with other countries. The G7 has no right to point fingers at other countries on the issue of nuclear arms control. China rejects the unreasonable accusations made by the G7,” the spokesperson noted.
While the G7 has abandoned the basic principles of maintaining global strategic stability and undermined the international nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation regime, it chose to attack and discredit other countries’ nuclear policies, the spokesperson said, warning that this will only intensify confrontation and create obstacles for the international nuclear disarmament process.
China wants to stress to the G7 that a lie, even if repeated thousands of times, will not become a fact. The world will not be misled by the smearing against China. Suppressing and attacking China is not a “panacea” for resolving G7’s internal disagreements.
