China hits back as G7 opens in Japan

Ise-Shima, Japan // World leaders on Thursday kicked off talks dominated by the global economy and worries over China’s growing clout – and were told by Beijing to keep their noses out of its business.

Presidents and prime ministers from the Group of Seven rich nations are in Japan for two days of discussions focused on how to stoke demand and encourage growth.

But concerns about China’s growing assertiveness, particularly in bitter territorial disputes in the South China Sea, was growing and European Council president Donald Tusk said the group needed to take a tough stance on the issue.

Beijing swiftly launched a stinging attack against the G7 – made up of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US – which it said should not pursue “selfish interests”.

“G7 should focus on its own duties, that is economic cooperation, it should not point fingers at something outside its portfolio,” Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said.

The Xinhua news agency, Beijing’s official mouthpiece, said in a commentary that the group “should mind its own business” and accused Japan of exploiting its host status to try to isolate China.

Both Washington and Tokyo – which is locked in a separate dispute with Beijing over islands in the East China Sea – have warned against China stoking tensions in the contested waters.

Beijing’s rebuke came as the G7 opened its 2016 summit at Ise-Shima, a mountainous region about 300 kilometres south-west of Tokyo.

Leaders, including US president Barack Obama – who is making a historic trip to the atomic-bombed city of Hiroshima on Friday – visited Ise Jingu, a shrine complex that sits at the spiritual heart of Japan’s native Shintoism.

Mr Abe’s decision to take his counterparts to the site has raised eyebrows among some critics, however, who say Shinto retains some of the nationalist overtones with which it was imbued when it was the state religion.

Several bilateral meetings were lined up throughout the day, with Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau meeting Germany’s Angela Merkel and French leader Francois Hollande.

The sputtering global economy was centre stage in formal talks, although divisions are likely to remain over whether the world should spend or save its way out of the malaise, with Japan and Germany at odds on the issue.

The global refugee crisis and Britain’s referendum next month on whether or not to stay in the European Union were also on the agenda. “The atmosphere of our talks would be better if Britain is staying in the European Union,” Mr Juncker said.

On the sidelines of the G7 meeting, Mr Obama took aim at North Korea calling it a “big worry”, as tensions escalate following Pyongyang’s series of nuclear tests.

North Korea’s provocations and its nuclear ambitions are among the topics on a packed agenda.

“North Korea is a big worry for all of us,” Mr Obama said.

“It is not the thing that poses necessarily the most immediate risk. [But] when you have such an unstable regime that is so isolated, that poses the kind of medium-term threat that we have to pay a lot of attention to.”

Tensions between North and South Korea have been running high since Pyongyang conducted its fourth nuclear test in January.

In recent weeks, the North has made repeated proposals for military talks aimed at de-escalating the situation – but the South has dismissed the offer as an insincere propaganda ploy.

The current administration of South Korean president Park Geun-hye is adamant that substantive inter-Korean talks can only begin once the North makes a tangible commitment to denuclearisation.

Also on Thursday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged a return to talks with North Korea.

“We must find the path back to dialogue,” Mr Ban said during a peace and security forum in South Korea.

North Korea held its first ruling party congress for nearly 40 years earlier this month, formally endorsing leader Kim Jong-un’s policy of expanding the country’s nuclear arsenal.* Agence France-Presse