G7 supports wider efforts for active arms control talks with China
The G7 of Nuclear States wants wider efforts to involve China in active arms control dialogue to promote nuclear disarmament.
-
The German, French, British, Italian, and Canadian Foreign Ministers, EU foreign policy chief, and US Under-Secretary of State for political affairs in Weissenhaus, Germany, May 13, 2022 (Reuters)
The foreign ministers of the G7 countries voiced on Saturday their support for more wide scope efforts involving China in active dialogues over arms control to promote nuclear disarmament.
"The G7 supports and encourages wider efforts towards an active arms control dialogue involving China," the foreign ministers said in a joint communique after a meeting in Weissenhaus, Germany.
The ministers also stressed that they welcome efforts by the G7 Nuclear Weapons States to promote effective measures that are critical toward progress on disarmament under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
"We underline that all Nuclear Weapons States have the responsibility to engage positively and in good faith in this regard," the statement added.
The meeting took place over three days, and it involved the foreign minister of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
It was held in Germany from Saturday to Monday for the states to discuss the Ukraine war, China, and the situation in the Indo-Pacific region, Afghanistan, Africa, and West Asia.
Tensions between the West on one end and China and Russia on the other have been spiraling as of late due to pre-existing economic strains between Beijing and Washington, in addition to the war in Ukraine and China refusing to impose sanctions on Russia over the crisis.
Beijing's Foreign Ministry had called on Washington to refrain from harming Chinese interests in the wake of the increasing sanctions on Moscow, with the former stressing that sanctions on Russia had been damaging the Russian-Sino trade movement, explaining sanctions do not solve problems, but rather create escalations of crisis.
G7 countries reaffirm commitment to Ukraine, their determination to continue sanctioning Russia
The G7 foreign ministers reaffirmed their commitment to providing financial and military assistance to Kiev, as well as their willingness to maintain economic and diplomatic pressure on Russia over its military action in Ukraine.
The G7 countries would also continue to press Russia with sanctions and other restrictive measures, as well as isolating it from Western markets, in order to force Moscow to reconsider its policy toward Ukraine, according to the communiqué.
