Recently, the Group of Seven (G7) held a foreign ministers’ meeting in Japan and issued a joint statement, making irresponsible remarks on the East China Sea, the South China Sea, Taiwan-related issues, Xinjiang-related issues and Tibet-related issues. This statement continues the hegemonic thinking of the West, and its lines are full of arrogance and prejudice. It not only ignores China’s solemn stance and objective facts, but also rudely interferes in China’s internal affairs, maliciously slanders and discredits China, and exposes the sinister intentions of opposing China and curbing China.
The relevant statement reverses right and wrong on a series of issues concerning China, which is a serious violation of the basic norms of international relations. These issues are related to China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and involve China’s core interests. No external forces can interfere in any name or in any way. To challenge the one-China principle is to destroy the post-war international order. Relevant countries should earnestly respect the efforts of regional countries to maintain peace and stability and stop provoking regional relations and creating camp confrontation.
The statement’s wanton accusations against China on economic and trade issues are a deliberate destruction of the global free trade system. The G-7 foreign ministers will attempt to concoct a false narrative that "China’s business environment is unfair and opaque" to disturb the minds of all business entities. This kind of unprovoked slander harbors evil intentions against China and runs counter to the trend of the times of win-win cooperation. As one of the most dynamic and potential markets in the world, China has continuously reduced the negative list of foreign investment in recent years, improved the systems of investment promotion and protection and information reporting, and strengthened the protection of intellectual property rights, thus creating a stable, fair, transparent and predictable investment and business environment for foreign investors.
Whether the business environment in China is good or not is the best answer. From 2012 to 2021, the number of foreign-invested enterprises in China increased from 441,000 to 664,000, an increase of more than 50%. The White Paper on Doing Business in China in 2023 released by the American Chamber of Commerce in South China shows that China is still the most popular investment destination for enterprises, and over 90% of the enterprises surveyed regard China as one of the most important investment destinations.
In contrast, some members of the Group of Seven often ignore the market economy and the principle of fair competition, frequently generalize the concept of national security and engage in "presumption of guilt", and do their best to suppress the enterprises of other countries unreasonably. For example, the United States has long abused "long-arm jurisdiction" to suppress commercial competitors and harm the interests of enterprises in other countries. According to statistics, the last US government implemented more than 3,900 sanctions, which is equivalent to waving sanctions sticks three times a day on average. Up to now, the United States has imposed economic sanctions on nearly 40 countries in the world and is truly the only "sanctions superpower" in the world. Members of the Group of Seven tacitly chose to turn a blind eye to American trade bullying. How can such a group politics with a cold war mentality and a belief in the "law of the jungle" be qualified to make irresponsible remarks about other countries?
What all countries in the world pursue is true multilateralism based on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and international law, with equality, win-win cooperation, instead of pseudo-multilateralism based on the interests of a "small circle" and acting unilaterally in the name of multilateralism. Advise the G-7 to abandon the cold war mentality and ideological prejudice, stop artificially creating confrontation and division, and earnestly shoulder the responsibility of promoting world economic recovery and helping developing countries develop. (Guo Yan Source: Economic Daily)
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