Chinese President Xi Jinping and hands with then U.S Vice President Joe Biden inside the Great Hall of the People on December 4, 2013 in Beijing, China.
Lintao Zhang | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Leaders of the Group of Seven agreed there’s a need to de-risk, not decouple from China, and acknowledged challenges posed by the mainland’s practices which “distort the global economy.”
“We are not decoupling or turning inwards,” the G-7 said in a joint statement released over the weekend as leaders met in Hiroshima, Japan. “At the same time, we recognize that economic resilience requires de-risking and diversifying.”
Leaders added, “We will seek to address the challenges posed by China’s non-market policies and practices, which distort the global economy. We will counter malign practices, such as illegitimate technology transfer or data disclosure.”
Reiterating the stance, President Joe Biden said at a press conference on Sunday: “We’re not looking to decouple from China, we’re looking to de-risk and diversify our relationship with China.
He explained that means taking steps to diversify supply chains, “so we’re not dependent on any one country for necessary product. It means resisting economic coercion together and countering harmful practices that hurt our workers. It means protecting a narrow set of advanced technologies critical for our national security.”
Speaking after the G-7 finance ministers and central bank governors’ meeting earlier this month, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said China’s behavior is “a matter that should be of concern to all of us.”
“There have been examples of China using economic coercion on countries that take actions that China’s not happy with from a geopolitical perspective,” she said, citing China’s trade disputes with Australia and Lithuania as examples.
In their statement the G-7 leaders said, “We will foster resilience to economic coercion. We also recognize the necessity of protecting certain advanced technologies that…
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