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The heads of states at the G7 summit pose for a photo together in Cornwall, England, on Saturday. (Yonhap News)

The leaders of the G7 countries adopted a Summit Communique on Sunday that directly criticized China’s policies in Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the South China Sea.

They also agreed to invest in building infrastructure for middle- and low-income countries to counter the Belt and Road Initiative, an effort by China to expand its economic scope.

The content of the communique reflected most of the hardline positions on China that the US had been demanding during the summit, Reuters and other foreign news outlets reported.

The communique, which came after the second day of meetings Sunday, included a declaration by the G7 leaders that they would “promote our values, including by calling on China to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms, especially in relation to Xinjiang and those rights, freedoms and high degree of autonomy for Hong Kong enshrined in the Sino-British Joint Declaration and the Basic Law.”

On the issue of Taiwan, the communique stressed the “importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait” and encouraged the “peaceful resolution of cross-Strait issues.”

“We remain seriously concerned about the situation in the East and South China Seas and strongly oppose any unilateral attempts to change the status quo and increase tensions,” the leaders also said.

Analysts saw the communique as signaling a strong united front against Beijing, with explicitly critical mentions of the Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South China Sea issues. China has responded negatively to other countries referring to and involving themselves in those matters, which it views as “key interests” and “internal affairs.”

The communique further signaled the leaders’ support for the “Indo-Pacific Strategy” that the US is pursuing to hem China in.

“We reiterate the importance of maintaining a free and open Indo Pacific,” the communique said.

In addition to their direct criticisms of China, the G7 leaders also agreed to launch the “Build Back Better World (B3W)” initiative as a way of countering Beijing’s expansionist Belt and Road Initiative policies.

On Saturday, the White House said that President Joe Biden had discussed “strategic competition” at the G7 summit in the English county of Cornwall, adding that he and the G7 partners agreed to launch a “bold new global infrastructure initiative.”

Taking its name for Biden’s domestic “build back better” message, the initiative centers on the G7 and like-minded countries joining forces with the private sector to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in middle- and low-income countries to meet US$40 trillion in demand for necessary infrastructure in the developing world.

The initiative is to extend to Central and South America, Africa, and the Indo-Pacific regions and focus on the four main areas of climate, health and health security, digital technology, and gender equity and equality, the White House said.

Explaining that the initiative would follow a “values-driven” approach with major democratic nations taking part, the White House stressed that it would maintain high standards in areas such as the environment and climate, labor and anticorruption.

A senior Biden administration official told reporters that “the United States and many of our partners and friends around the world have long been skeptical about China’s Belt and Road Initiative.”

“We’ve seen the Chinese government demonstrate a lack of transparency, poor environmental and labor standards, and a course of approach that’s left many countries worse off,” the official continued.

“But until now, we haven’t offered a positive alternative that reflects our values, our standards, and our way of doing business,” the official added, positing the B3W framework as an alternative to the Belt and Road Initiative.

Another senior US official told reporters described “areas of convergence” within the G7, including “working together to respond to China’s non-market economic practices that are harmful and distorted to the global economy,” “being willing to speak out on human rights abuses, including in Xinjiang,” and “taking action, responding to forced labor in supply chains, again, including from Xinjiang.”

The same official also noted the significant change in comparison with the statement from the G7 summit three years ago, where China was “not even explicitly mentioned.”

But German Chancellor Angela Merkel said after a discussion on China on Sunday morning that while there had been criticism on human rights issues related to Xinjiang and Hong Kong, the G7 also has cooperative links with China on many issues, including climate, biodiversity and free trade.

On Monday, Biden was scheduled to attend a North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in Brussels, where issues related to China are also expected to come up on the agenda.

By Jung E-gil, senior staff writer

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