China Reacts Strongly to G7 Foreign Ministers' Statement, Summons Japanese Ambassador for Protest

Regarding the G7 foreign ministers' mention of issues such as Taiwan, Xinjiang, and Tibet to check China, China strongly protested to Japan, the host country of the meeting.

James Cleverly, UK Foreign Secretary; Annalena Baerbock, German Foreign Minister; Antony Blinken, US Secretary of State; Hayashi Yoshimasa, Japanese Foreign Minister; M?lanie Joly, Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs; Catherine Colonna, French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs; Antonio Tajani, Italian Foreign Minister; and Enrique Mora, Deputy Secretary-General of the European External Action Service (from front left clockwise) are attending the Group of Seven (G7) Foreign Ministers' Meeting held on the 18th in Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture, Japan. On this day, representatives from each country adopted a joint statement strongly condemning North Korea for its recent successive ballistic missile launches. [Image source=Yonhap News]

According to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on the 19th, Liu Jinsong, Director-General of the Asian Affairs Department of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, summoned Koizumi, the senior counselor of the Japanese Embassy in China, to lodge a solemn representation regarding the negative trends toward China in the G7 foreign ministers' meeting. The phrase "lodged a solemn representation" is typically used by China when protesting a specific issue through diplomatic channels.

The joint statement adopted at the G7 foreign ministers' meeting held in Japan from the 16th to the 18th emphasized "reaffirming the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and urging the peaceful resolution of cross-strait (China and Taiwan) issues." "We remain seriously concerned about the situations in the East China Sea and the South China Sea," and "We strongly oppose any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force or coercion," it also stated.

On the same day, Wang Wenbin, spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in response to a question about the background of summoning the Japanese counselor at a regular briefing, said, "There is only one order and set of rules in the world, which is the international order based on international law and the basic norms of international relations based on the UN Charter," adding, "If the G7 opposes hegemonism, it should firmly oppose unilateral sanctions and firmly say no to the America First policy."

He added, "Both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to the same China, and Taiwan is part of Chinese territory," and said, "Claiming to implement the 'One China' policy while saying that China's opposition to Taiwan independence is an attempt to change the status quo in the Taiwan Strait undermines China's peaceful reunification."