Hiroshima: Leaders of the world’s richest democracies agreed on Friday to stiffen sanctions against Russia, while a draft communique to be issued after their talks in the Japanese city of Hiroshima stressed the need to reduce reliance on trade with China.
The Group of Seven (G7) leaders, who will be joined this weekend by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, pledged to restrict any exports to Russia that could help it in its 15-month-old invasion of Ukraine.
“This includes exports of industrial machinery, tools, and other technology that Russia uses to rebuild its war machine,” they said in a joint statement released on Friday, adding they would pursue moves to limit Russian revenues from trade in metals and diamonds.
On China, which G7 powers increasingly see in terms of a threat to economic security, they were to agree its status as the world’s second-largest economy meant it was necessary to foster cooperation, an early draft of the final communique seen by Reuters said.
“Our policy approaches are not designed to harm China, we do not seek to thwart China’s economic progress and development,” noted the draft, which is still subject to change, calling for “stable and constructive” ties with Beijing.
But the draft nonetheless urged measures to “reduce excessive dependencies” in critical supply chains and counter “malign practices” in technology transfer and data disclosure.
It reaffirmed the need for peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and urged China to press Russia to end its aggression in Ukraine.
The G7 – the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada – will use the three-day meeting to debate strategy on a Ukraine conflict that shows no sign of easing.
Comments are closed.