FASANO (Italy): Leaders of the Group of Seven major powers Friday confirmed their cooperation in dealing with China, which is increasing its military coercion around Taiwan and advancing into the East and South China seas.

On the second day of their annual gathering, held in Puglia, southern Italy, the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States plus the European Union agreed to closely cooperate in responding to various issues related to China.

The G-7 leaders also saw the need to take a firm stand against any attempts to unilaterally change the status quo by force.

In debates on the Indo-Pacific situation, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was the first to speak.

“The security of the Indo-Pacific region and Europe are inseparable,” he was quoted as telling his G-7 partners, calling for vigilance. He hopes to ensure that a planned leaders’ statement notes the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.

The G-7 leaders also discussed how to deal with North Korea, which continues to develop nuclear weapons and missiles. They confirmed cooperation on issues including North Korea’s abduction of Japanese nationals decades ago.

On Friday, G-7 discussions began with the issue of immigration, on which Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who chairs the summit, puts emphasis.

She underscored the need to tackle the root causes of illegal migration from Africa to Europe. The G7 leaders then talked about factors contributing to the issue, such as climate change, food crises and underdevelopment.

There was a session dedicated to issues related to artificial intelligence, joined by Pope Francis, who has concerns about AI in terms of ethics, and invited national leaders. Participants exchanged views on AI regulations.

Pope Francis thus became the first leader of the Catholic Church to participate in a G-7 summit session.

The G-7 leaders also discussed economic security, as concerns mount over China’s overproduction and massive exports of electric vehicles and semiconductors aided by heavy subsidies.

They agreed to address overproduction, market distortion and economic coercion while working to strengthen supply chains for critical goods.

The leaders’ statement, due out after Friday’s discussions, is expected to show strong worries over economic coercion, bearing in mind China, which maintains its restrictions on exports of critical minerals such as gallium and germanium.

The document will also include a plan to provide 50 billion dollars in loans to Ukraine, utilizing Russian assets frozen by various countries as sanctions for its invasion of Ukraine.

JIJI Press