CHINA SLAMS G7 FOR TRYING TO CREATE GLOBAL RULES

China has countered the G7’s calls on it to participate constructively in the rules-based international system, saying the era of "pseudo-multilateralism" based on the interests of "a small group of countries" is over, Kyodo News reported.

"The days when global decisions were dictated by a small group of countries are long gone," the Chinese Embassy in London said in a statement posted on its website amid a three-day G7 summit underway in Cornwall, southwestern England, through Sunday.

"There is only one system and one order in the world, that is, the international system with the United Nations at the core and the international order based on international law, not the so-called system and order advocated by a handful of countries," the embassy said.

"There is only one kind of multilateralism, that is, the genuine multilateralism based on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and international law, and featuring equal treatment, cooperation, and mutual benefits, not pseudo-multilateralism serving the interests of a small clique or political bloc," it said.

The statement was issued in response to reports that the United States was seizing the opportunity of the G7 summit to bond with other Western countries and safeguard the rules-based international system.

At a G7 meeting last month in London, the foreign ministers of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United States, plus the European Union called on China "to participate constructively in the rules-based international system."

China wants its own rules to be followed and has refused to admit the systematic oppression of Uyghurs and abide by the treaty respecting Hong Kong’s autonomy until 2047.

It also refuses to scrub its claim on underwater features in the South China Sea despite its maps from various dynasties and until 1997 showing the claimed features are not within its territory.

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