The foreign ministers of the Group of Seven affluent democracies met in person for the first time in two years on Tuesday, to discuss ways to form a united front against an increasingly assertive China. In support of the US President Joe Biden's demands for a stronger coalition of democracies, host Britain welcomed India, South Korea, and Australia to three days of talks in central London.
Following a welcome dinner Monday focusing on Iran's and North Korea's nuclear programmes, the foreign ministers began formal talks at Lancaster House, a West End mansion, with Covid-friendly elbow bumps and sparse personnel. The G7's first meeting on Tuesday was devoted to China, whose rising military and economic clout, as well as ability to exercise power at home and abroad, has alarmed Western democracies. "It is not our aim to contain or restrain China," the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said to reporters on Monday.
"What we're trying to do is maintain the international rules-based order in which our countries have spent so much for so many decades, to the benefit, I believe, not only of our own citizens, but of people all over the world — including, by the way, China." Blinken promised "complete solidarity" with the United Kingdom in pressing China over the Xinjiang region, where Beijing's detention of one million Uyghurs and other Muslims has been dubbed "genocide" by the United States, and a crackdown on civil rights in Hong Kong.
"Keep Beijing to the promises that they've made," British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said, referring to Hong Kong, which was offered a different regime before London turned over the colony in 1997. Raab also called for "finding pragmatic ways to collaborate with China in a rational and optimistic fashion where that's practicable" — even on climate change — in line with the Biden administration, which has softened the tone if not the content of former President Donald Trump's hawkish position on China.
"We want to see China take responsibility and play its full part," Raab said. The G7 countries, which include Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan, are mainly concerned about China, though others have taken different approaches. Japan has long had a tense relationship with China, but has refrained from joining Western nations in imposing sanctions for fear of escalating tensions with its massive neighbour and trade partner.
Italy has long been regarded as one of the most pro-Beijing countries in the West, having joined China's massive infrastructure-building Belt and Road Initiative in 2019. However, in March, Rome joined EU peers in summoning China's ambassador in a row, sparked by questions about the handling of Uyghurs. Hillary Clinton, Blinken's predecessor as Secretary of State, said that democracies would "place enormous pressure on China in the court of public opinion." "I believe it is critical that not only the Biden government, but all of our partnerships come hands in making those demands of China," she said at the Chatham House foreign relations think tank in London.
The foreign ministers met later to address the escalating situation in Myanmar, as well as Russia, Libya, Syria, and climate change, among other issues. Blinken will travel to Ukraine on Wednesday, in a show of solidarity after Russia amassed and then withdrew 100,000 troops from border regions and Crimea last month. Josep Borrell, the EU's foreign policy director, said he spoke with Blinken about the new round of talks in Vienna on the US's return to the Iran nuclear pact, which was sabotaged by former President Donald Trump. The talks were "difficult," according to Borrell, who encouraged the revival of face-to-face diplomacy.
"You simply read a document during a video call. There isn't any interaction”, said Borrell. "It's the way you forge consensus; this is the way you forge deals," he said of in-person meetings. The G7 finance ministers will meet for the first time in person since the pandemic on June 4 and 5, again at Lancaster House, Britain announced Wednesday.
Ministers are meeting under tight coronavirus guidelines, with reduced delegations and social distancing measures such as face masks and Perspex screens between speakers. On Wednesday, the ministers will address vaccination in the wake of raising demands for Western countries to share their early achievements in immunizing their populations.