Japan Calls On G7 Members To Unite Against CCP’s Economic Coercion

According to foreign media reports, on January 5, Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry Yasutoshi Nishimura said in Washington, D.C. that a series of actions taken by the Chinese Communist Party in the past few years, such as suspending the import of Taiwanese pineapples and Australian wine, are of great concern to the world and is a clear and present threat to the economy. At the same time, he expects an effective response to such economic coercion to be a major topic at this year’s G7 summit. Since Japan holds the rotating head of the G7 group of industrial democracies this year and plans to host the group’s summit in October. Nishimura said it may be necessary for the G7 group to take “countermeasures” to help countries and regions targeted by authoritarian regimes’ restrictive trade practices. He also believes that identifying chockpoints that could be exploited by authoritarian regimes would also be helpful. In addition, Nishimura said that democracies made a mistake more than 20 years ago. They thought that by allowing China and Russia to join the World Trade Organization and deepen their economic interdependence with each other, they could bring about a peaceful world after the end of the Cold War. But instead of helping to build peace, their prosperity has increased geopolitical risk as authoritarian regimes use economic growth and technological advancement to increase their power. Nishimura argued that the free trade system ultimately increased the legitimacy of authoritarian regimes. The illusions of Western countries ultimately amplify the threat of hegemonic powers. Separately, Nishimura urged democracies to improve coordination on measures such as export controls, improving supply chain resilience, and energy security. Given that the WTO’s dispute settlement mechanism is now effectively paralyzed, Japan, the U.S., Europe, and other like-minded partners need to work hard on WTO reform.