China censures Japan, UK over G7 declarations

State-backed Chinese mouthpiece Global Times called the G7 an “antiChina workshop” on Monday, a day after Beijing summoned Japan’s envoy and berated Britain in a fiery response to statements issued at the group’s summit in Hiroshima.

Group of Seven (G7) declarations issued on Saturday singled out China on issues including Taiwan, nuclear arms, economic coercion and human rights abuses, underscoring the wide-ranging tensions between Beijing and the group of rich countries which includes the United States.

“The US is pushing hard to weave an anti-China net in the Western world,” Global Times said in an editorial on Monday titled “G7 has descended into an anti-China workshop”.

Beijing’s foreign ministry said it firmly opposed the statement by the G7 - which also includes Japan, Britain, Canada, France, Germany and Italy - and late on Sunday said it had summoned Japan’s ambassador to China in a pointed protest to the summit host.

Russia, a close ally of China that was also called out in the G7 statement over its war in Ukraine, said the summit was an “incubator” for anti-Russian and anti-Chinese hysteria.

Separately, China’s embassy in Britain urged London to stop slandering China, after British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Beijing represents the world’s greatest challenge to security and prosperity.

The main G7 leaders’ communique mentioned China 20 times, the most in recent years, and up from 14 mentions in 2022. “China’s reaction this time is quite intense,” said Wang Jiangyu, a professor at City University of Hong Kong.

As well as taking issue with Group of Seven comments on Taiwan, the democratic island China claims as its own, Beijing also accused the United States and its allies of double standards over comments about a nuclear build-up and the use of economic leverage.