The G7 leaders meeting since Thursday in Puglia, under the Italian presidency, have decided to send a strong warning to China and Iran to stop supporting Russia against Ukraine. “We will continue to take action against actors in China and third countries that materially support the Russian war machine, including financial institutions, in accordance with our legal systems, and other entities in China that facilitate Russia’s acquisition of elements for its industrial base. of defense”, reads the final document approved this afternoon.
In the statement, the leaders pledge to take “restrictive measures” in accordance with their legal systems, which could range from sanctions to export controls, to “prevent abuse” and restrict access to their financial systems by those entities, including Chinese banks and companies. “We will take strong action against actors who help Russia circumvent our sanctions, including by imposing severe costs on all those who do not immediately stop providing material support to Russian aggression and by strengthening domestic enforcement and intensifying our corporate commitment to promote responsibility of companies. We call on financial institutions to refrain from supporting and profiting from the Russian war machine. We will take new measures to deter and disrupt this behavior,” reads the text that includes the conclusions of the summit.
Until now, as EFE explains, the United States has been reluctant to implement sanctions against large Chinese banks – considered by analysts a “nuclear” option – due to the enormous effect it could have on the global economy and its impact on relations between States. United States and China. The most severe punishment that the West could take against these Chinese banks would be to exclude them from the SWIFT international interbank communication system, something that the EU, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States already did with Russian banking entities after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February. of 2022.
Although it has ruled out, for now, these radical options, Washington has been expressing growing concern about these financial transactions between Chinese and Russian banks, something that Beijing defends as normal exchanges.
As for Iran, the warning contained in the summit’s final document is that it “must end its destabilizing actions” and, as for Russia, it must stop providing Moscow with “ballistic missiles and related technology, as this would “It would represent a substantive material escalation and a direct threat to European security.” “We are willing to respond quickly and in a coordinated manner, including with new and significant measures,” the text reads.
Notice to Beijing on the economic front
The warning to Beijing also extends on the economic front. The G7 leaders recognize “the importance of China in global trade” but warn about the “market distortions” caused by Chinese practices. “We do not intend to harm China or frustrate its economic development; indeed, a growing China governed by international rules and norms would be in the global interest. However, we express concern about China’s persistent industrial targeting and its global non-market policies and practices, which are causing global spillovers, market distortions and harmful overcapacity in an increasing range of sectors, undermining our workers, industries and economic resistance and security,” the final declaration states.
“We are not disengaging or folding in on ourselves. We are reducing risks and diversifying supply chains where necessary and appropriate, and promoting resistance to economic coercion. Furthermore, we call on China to refrain from adopting export control measures, particularly on critical minerals, which could cause significant disruptions to the global supply chain,” the text continues.
Olympic Truce and Support for Biden’s Gaza Plan
In the last lines of the document, the leaders urge all countries to observe the “Olympic Truce individually and collectively,” as prescribed by the United Nations General Assembly resolution adopted in November 2023. The Olympic Truce would imply silencing weapons in the two weeks that the Olympics last, but never in recent decades had it coincided with two wars of enormous global impact, such as those in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip.
Regarding the Gaza conflict, the final communiqué of the summit, as the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, already announced on Thursday, contains support for the United States plan for a ceasefire in Gaza. The proposal is the one presented on May 31 by President Joe Biden and that the United Nations Security Council supported last Monday with the approval of a resolution for a ceasefire presented by the US. The text passed with 14 votes in favor and Russia abstaining.
“We reiterate our call on Hamas to fully and unequivocally accept and implement the ceasefire proposal” and “urge countries that have influence” over the Islamist group “to help ensure that it does so,” the statement reads. end of the group’s summit in Apulia (southern Italy). They welcome that Israel has done so and “is willing to move forward with it” but call on Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to “fully comply with its obligations under international law in all circumstances, including international humanitarian law” while condemning Hamas for “not to separate or distinguish oneself from civilians in Gaza.”
Furthermore, they urge Israel to “refrain from carrying out” a “large-scale military offensive” in Rafah, which “would have even more dire consequences for civilians,” when the war in Gaza has already claimed more than 37,000. dead in the Strip. “We urge all parties to facilitate the rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief for civilians in need, particularly women and children” and “through all relevant land crossings, including Rafah, through maritime delivery routes, including the port of Ashdod, and throughout Gaza”, which “remains a top priority” so that UNRWA and UN agencies can deliver the necessary aid.
After showing their support for the new Palestinian Authority cabinet and “the reforms essential for it to fulfill its responsibilities in the West Bank,” they call on Israel to cease its actions to weaken it, “including the retention by the Government of Israel of the income from mine clearance. “We condemn the increase in violence by extremist settlers against Palestinians, which undermines security and stability in the West Bank and threatens the prospects for lasting peace, and after war, in Gaza,” they add, underlining their “commitment unwavering with the vision of the two-state solution.” In another passage, the leaders call on “all parties” to “refrain from any unilateral action that undermines the prospect of a two-state solution, including the Israeli expansion of settlements and the “legalization” of outposts.”
Source: www.eldiario.es
