One of the major questions surrounding the Group of Seven summit in the United Kingdom this weekend was how the countries' leaders would approach China in their final communique, especially following reports that President Biden was urging his allies to take a strong stand against its forced labor practices. The communique was unveiled Sunday, and it appears the cohort opted to send a message to Beijing on that front, just not explicitly. For his part, Biden said he's "satisfied" with the final result, even though it wasn't as strong as the U.S. had hoped, Bloomberg's Jennifer Jacobs and The Wall Street Journal's Vivian Salama report.
China received four direct mentions in the communique, including: a request for further investigation into the origins of COVID-19; an agreement to consult on China's "non-market ... practices which undermine the fair and transparent operation of the global economy"; an expression of concern regarding tensions in the South and East China Seas and the Taiwan Strait; and a call for Beijing "to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms" in Xinjiang, home to the country's Uighur Muslims and other ethnic minorities, as well as Hong Kong.
Beijing wasn't named in a section of the communique that addresses the countries' concern of "forced labor in global supply chains, including state-sponsored forced labor of vulnerable groups and minorities, including in the agricultural, solar, and garment sectors," but the passage is seemingly aimed at the Chinese Communist Party, nevertheless.
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Other key points from the communique include a pledge to provide 1 billion coronavirus vaccines around the world, an endorsement of a 15 percent minimum global corporate tax rate, and a commitment to net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Read the full communique here and more at Bloomberg.
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