China and Russia MoF criticize decisions of G7 summit

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: News Agencies
20 May 2023 18:38
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Lavrov contended that the decisions of the G7 summit are aimed at containing Russia and China.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi meet in Denpasar, Indonesia, July 7, 2022 (Reuters)

On Saturday, China expressed "strong dissatisfaction" with the communique issued by the G7 summit: which criticized Beijing on issues including the South China Sea alleged human rights violations, and interference in their democracies.

"The G7 insisted on manipulating China-related issues, smearing and attacking China," said a spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov similarly criticized the decisions of the G7 summit, adopting the same line of reasoning of the Chinese foreign ministry.

"We have entered a phase of acute confrontation with an aggressive bloc composed of the United States, the European Union, and the North Atlantic Alliance. Look at the decisions being discussed and taken today in Hiroshima at the G7 Summit which are aimed at the dual containment of Russia and the People's Republic of China," Lavrov said at an assembly of Russian think tank Council on Foreign and Defense Policy.

According to the Russian Foreign Minister, the United States has utilized the Ukrainian issue to bolster its Western allies in a way that appears to be their subjugation to Washington's will.

"Washington used the Ukrainian crisis to consolidate its camp, we can see that. But this consolidation is more like a total subjugation of everyone else to its will," Lavrov said.

Lavrov added that the countries of the Global South were prepared to "resist the diktat" of the West and that a "fault line" was developing between the collective West and the countries of the Global South and the East, which make up the majority of the world's population.

Following talks on nuclear disarmament in the Japanese city of Hiroshima, Group of Seven (G7) leaders said, on Friday, that China's rapidly growing nuclear arsenal has become a "concern to global and regional stability."

Last week, the G7's senior diplomats gathered in Karuizawa, Japan for discussions that are expected to be overshadowed by two crises: so-called "China's increasing pressure on Taiwan" and "Russia's war in Ukraine."

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, whose government has revamped defense policy and spending, has repeatedly warned that "Ukraine today could be East Asia tomorrow."