G7 leaders and other participants during the outreach session of 50th G7 Summit, in Apulia.
| Photo Credit: ANI

China hit back on June 17 after G7 leaders warned Beijing to stop sending weapons components to Russia, saying their end-of-summit statement was “full of arrogance, prejudice and lies”.

When Group of Seven leaders met last week in Italy, souring trade relations with China as well as tensions over Ukraine and the South China Sea were a focus of their discussions.

The statement released at the end of the summit on June 14 criticised China on many of these issues.

It included an accusation against Beijing of sending dual-use materials to Russia, which it said were helping the war effort in Ukraine.

On June 17, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said the statement had “slandered and attacked China”.

It had “rehashed cliches that have no factual basis, no legal basis, and no moral justification, and are full of arrogance, prejudice and lies”, he said at a regular press briefing.

The Group of Seven — made up of the United States, Japan, France, Germany, Canada, Britain and Italy — had also taken aim at what it called “dangerous” incursions by China in the South China Sea.

Worries of a military escalation between China and its neighbours are rising, and on Monday Philippine and Chinese vessels collided near the Second Thomas Shoal, according to the Chinese Coast Guard.

“We oppose China’s militarisation, and coercive and intimidation activities in the South China Sea,” read the G7 statement, using stronger language than at last year’s summit in Japan.

‘Political tool’

Coming the same week the European Union warned it was planning to impose new tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, the G7 statement also referenced what it called “harmful overcapacity”.

The EU, which attends G7 summits as an unofficial eighth partner, and others argue that generous subsidies by China, particularly in green energy sectors, risk flooding the global market with cheap goods.

“We express our concerns about China’s persistent industrial targeting and comprehensive non-market policies,” the G7 statement said, citing “global spillovers, market distortions and harmful overcapacity” in multiple sectors.

China has repeatedly dismissed the concerns.

On June 17, Lin said that G7 “speculation” on overcapacity “completely deviates from the objective facts and economic laws, creates excuses for protectionism, and also undermines the efforts of global green and low-carbon transition and climate change cooperation”.

The G7 “does not represent the international community”, he said, accusing it of being “a political tool for safeguarding the hegemony of the United States and the West”.