China slams 'arrogant, prejudiced' G7 statement

The Group of Seven is a real "coercer" that politicizes and weaponizes economic and trade relations, Beijing warned on Monday in response to a joint statement issued at the latest G7 summit.

"It runs counter to the trend of deeper integration of the interests of all countries in the era of globalization. Such behavior will eventually backfire on the G7 itself," Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said.

The joint statement once again worked on hyping China-related topics such as the Taiwan Strait, East China Sea, South China Sea, Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Xizang, analysts noted.

Speaking at a daily news conference in Beijing, Lin said these slanders, attacks and hype "have no factual basis and lack legal grounds "and are "cliches with no moral justification, full of arrogance, prejudice and lies".

Currently, the G7 accounts for only 10 percent of the global population, and its share of the global economy is declining year by year.

"Today's G7 has long drifted away from its original objective of coordinating and stabilizing the international economic environment, and has become more and more of a political tool to defend the hegemony of the United States and the West," the spokesman said.

By making its own rules overriding the tenets and principles of the United Nations Charter and international law, the G7 has "lost its ground in representing the world and has lost its international credibility", he said.

Referring to the G7's claim of securing world peace, Lin said the grouping keeps drawing lines based on ideology and values, playing up the false narrative of "democracy versus authoritarianism" and stirring up bloc-based confrontation by using its cliques.

In addition, it worked to fuel regional conflicts and looked to shift the blame, sending warships and military aircraft to the Asia-Pacific region to create tensions and repeatedly engaged in offering arms to Taiwan, threatening peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.

"These erroneous acts that undermine international order and jeopardize peace and security are being shunned by more and more international righteous forces," Lin said.

In recent years, the US has repeatedly abused export control measures, engaged in unilateral sanctions and intensified its suppression against Chinese companies, and Washington has also encouraged its allies to copy its wrong practices.

That "seriously violates the principles of market economy and fair competition and disrupts the international economic and trade order", Lin said.

Regarding the G7's hype about China's "overcapacity", Lin said it "completely runs counter to the facts and the laws of the economy".

The move "creates excuses for protectionism and will harm global efforts for a green low-carbon transition and cooperation to address climate change", he said.