The main G7 statement will include “a specific section on China” with a list of concerns that includes “economic coercion and other behavior that we have seen specifically in the [República Popular China]”, the official stated on Friday.
A separate “statement on economic security will discuss more of the tools” used to counter those efforts, including planning and coordination, the person said. In each case, these statements are expected to go further than previous ones from the G7.
US President Joe Biden has made China a focus of his foreign policy, working to prevent the tense and competitive relationship from escalating into open conflict, including over issues like Taiwan.
The G7, which also includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom, is closely linked economically to China, the world’s largest exporter and a key market for many of the seven countries’ companies.
China last month called a statement by the G7 foreign ministers addressing similar issues “full of arrogance and bias against China,” and lodged complaints with this year’s G7 host Japan.
Under Biden’s predecessor, Republican President Donald Trump, G7 statements often offered only cursory mention of China-related issues. The Biden government has pushed for more direct statements.
The joint statement that all G7 leaders issue each year is meant to signal that powerful countries are aligned on a number of political and economic issues.
The G7 members will also hold the prospect of further cooperation with China in areas such as climate.
“We are not in favor of decoupling the US and Chinese economy, we are in favor of risk reduction, we are in favor of diversification,” the US official said. “That principle is very unifying.”
Negotiations over the precise language of the leaders’ joint statements are still subject to diplomacy and adjustment before they are released during the summit.
The G7 meeting will be a test of how far the members, all wealthy democracies, can agree on a common approach to China, the world’s second-largest economy.
Conditions in China have been a major topic of talks currently being held by G7 finance leaders in Niigata, where they have focused on reducing the “over-reliance” of their countries’ supply chains on Chinese production, including through partnership with low- and middle-income countries.
Some of the countries are skeptical when it comes to signing the policies advocated by the Biden government, such as controls on foreign investment in China.
These policies are being crafted in part to help prevent the Chinese military from accessing tools it could use to gain technological superiority, and are seen by many in the Biden administration as complementary to export controls that restrict access to some semiconductors and they have the same goal.
“Of course, each member of the G7 is going to chart their own path towards China to some extent, but there are also a number of principles that unite the G7 in a common approach towards China,” the US official said.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who is in Japan for the G7 finance ministers meeting, said on Thursday that China had clearly used economic coercion with Australia and Lithuania.
The meeting was marked by a lack of progress in negotiations on the US debt ceiling. A scheduled meeting for Friday between Biden and top lawmakers has been postponed until early next week as Biden’s Democrats and Republicans seek a compromise to avoid a catastrophic default.
