The G7 foreign ministers and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell have discussed recent developments in China on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York and opposed unilateral changes to the status quo in Taiwan, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Thursday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd September, 2022) The G7 foreign ministers and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell have discussed recent developments in China on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York and opposed unilateral changes to the status quo in Taiwan, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Thursday.
"The G7 Foreign Ministers and the High Representative discussed recent developments in China and the region. They opposed unilateral changes to the status quo. They reaffirmed the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and encouraged the peaceful resolution of cross-Strait issues. There is no change in the basic positions of G7 members on Taiwan, including stated One China policies," Baerbock said in a statement published by the German Foreign Office.
The G7 foreign ministers got acquainted with the recent publication of the UN Human Rights Office report on the situation in China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and "remained deeply concerned by the serious human rights violations in Xinjiang," according to the statement. The G7 countries also paid attention to the fact that some violations may allegedly constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity, Baerbock added.
The situation around Taiwan escalated after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island in early August. Beijing condemned Pelosi's trip, which it regarded as a gesture of support for separatism, and launched large-scale military exercises in the vicinity of the island. Despite this fact, several countries, including France, the United States, Japan and others, have sent their delegations to the island since then, further increasing tensions in the Taiwan Strait.
Relations between China and the West deteriorated further on August 31, when the UN Human Rights Office released a report claiming that Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim groups in the Chinese province of Xinjiang were routinely placed in so-called reeducation camps and allegedly subjected to torture, rape, forced labor, abortion and sterilization. Many Western countries welcomed assessments provided in the document. Beijing, in turn, dismissed the report as a mishmash of lies fabricated by anti-China forces.
