'Filled with arrogance': China lashes out at G7 over statements on
maritime security
[March 15, 2025]
By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — China has lashed out at accusations it is
endangering maritime safety made by top diplomats from the Group of 7
industrialized democracies in a joint statement, saying the G7 members
are “filled with arrogance, prejudice and malicious intentions.”
Even for China's generally overheated diplomatic language, the statement
issued Saturday was unusually vitriolic, although it did not threaten
any retaliation.
In the Friday statement that sparked the Chinese response, the G7 said,
“We condemn China’s illicit, provocative, coercive and dangerous actions
that seek unilaterally to alter the status quo in such a way as to risk
undermining the stability of regions, including through land
reclaimations, and building of outposts, as well as their use for
military purpose.”
“We reaffirm that our basic policies on Taiwan remain unchanged and
emphasize the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait
as indispensable to international security and prosperity,” the
statement said, referring to the crucial waterway separating China from
the self-governing island republic it claims as its own territory.
In the response issued through its embassy in Canada, where the two-day
G7 meeting was held in La Malbaie, Quebec, China said the statement
“repeated the same old rhetoric, ignored facts and China’s solemn
position, grossly interfered in China’s internal affairs, and blatantly
smeared China.”
“The statements are filled with arrogance, prejudice and malicious
intentions to suppress and attack China. China strongly deplores and
opposes this and has lodged solemn representations with the Canadian
side,” the statement said.
China claims virtually the entire South China Sea, through which passes
around $5 trillion in global trade. It has dismissed and occasionally
clashed with other countries that claim parts of the sea, especially the
Philippines, a U.S. treaty partner.
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From left, Japanese Foreign Minister Iwaya Takeshi, Canadian Foreign
Minister Melanie Joly, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, German
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio
Tajani and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas attend the G7 foreign
ministers meeting in La Malbaie, Canada, Friday March 14, 2025.
(Saul Loeb, Pool Photo via AP)
China is not a member of the G7 but closely follows all comments and
references to its international status made by international
organizations or in foreign countries, responding to criticism with
caustic language.
China has firmly rejected a U.N.-affiliated court's ruling that
invalidated most of its claims to the South China Sea and says its
claim to Taiwan is non-negotiable, even if China has to use force
against the island.
China routinely sends ships and warplanes into airspace and waters
near Taiwan, built military bases on human-made islands in the South
China Sea and recently staged surprise live-fire exercises in the
Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand for which it gave no
advance notice.
Australia's aviation authority said it learned of the drills just 30
minutes before they began, not from Beijing but from a pilot flying
in the area, and 49 commercial flights were forced to alter their
flight paths in response.
The G7 did not mention the drills in its statement.
“We share a growing concern at recent, unjustifiable efforts to
restrict such freedom and to expand jurisdiction through use of
force and other forms of coercion, including across the Taiwan
Strait, and in the South China Sea, the Red Sea, and the Black Sea,”
the G7 said.
China has the world's largest navy, including three aircraft
carriers, with a fourth on the way. It has a base in Sheikhdom of
Djibouti in the Horn of Africa and consistently has expanded the
range of the force.
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