G7 Criticizes China Over Recent Military Drills Encircling Taiwan, Calling Them Destabilizing

‘We oppose any unilateral actions to threaten such peace and stability, including by force or coercion,’ the foreign ministers of the G7 nations said.

(L–R) European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya, British Foreign Minister David Lammy, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, and Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani pose for a photo during the G7 meeting of foreign ministers in La Malbaie, Quebec, Canada, on March 13, 2025. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

G7 foreign ministers have condemned communist China’s recent military exercises around Taiwan as “provocative actions” that jeopardize global security.

The seven foreign ministers from the leading industrialized nations—Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, and the United States—said in a joint statement issued on April 6 that their countries and the larger international community “have an interest in the preservation of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.”

“We oppose any unilateral actions to threaten such peace and stability, including by force or coercion,” the ministers wrote.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has set the goal of seizing Taiwan, claiming that the self-governing island nation is a part of its territory. Subsequently, the Chinese regime has targeted Taiwan with diplomatic, economic, and military coercion in the name of its national interests.

The regime’s latest large-scale military drills around Taiwan lasted two days, ending on April 2. The drills involved the navy, the coast guard, and air, ground, and rocket forces, and they included long-range, live-fire drills in the East China Sea.

“These increasingly frequent and destabilizing activities are raising cross-Strait tensions and put at risk global security and prosperity,” the G7 foreign ministers said.

“G7 members continue to encourage the peaceful resolution of issues through constructive cross-Strait dialogue.”

A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Canada accused the G7 nations of interfering in its “internal affairs” over their joint statement about Taiwan.

The spokesperson said China’s war games served as a “severe punishment” against Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te and a “stern warning” to the “Taiwan independence” forces.

The CCP calls Lai and his predecessor Tsai Ing-wen “separatists,” as both leaders have been outspoken about safeguarding Taiwan’s sovereignty.

Taiwan’s representative office in Canada expressed gratitude to the G7 nations on social media platform X.

“The strong resolve shown by democracies is our best #deterrence, as #peace is our shared interest, and no one benefits from conflict,” the representative office wrote.

‘Beijing’s Calculated Escalations’

The Chinese regime’s latest military drills have drawn widespread international condemnation.

On April 4, the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, a group of lawmakers from countries around the world, issued a statement expressing strong condemnation against the latest actions of the CCP’s People’s Liberation Army around Taiwan.

“For too long Beijing’s calculated escalations around Taiwan have passed unremarked,” the alliance said. “We cannot stand idly by as the Status Quo is eroded, with attendant consequences for the people of Taiwan and global stability.

“Taiwanese security and the security of the global economy are inextricably linked.”

The alliance said it would like to see an “internationally agreed package of coordinated economic and political measures” to “deter further escalation” of the CCP’s military activities against Taiwan.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Japanese Foreign Minister Iwaya Takeshi, and South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul recently met in Brussels. In a joint statement, they criticized China for its military drills and stressed “the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait as an indispensable element of security and prosperity for the international community.”

Last year, the Center for Strategic and International Studies published a report stating that a conflict over the Taiwan Strait would have far-reaching consequences for the global economy. The report said that the strait accounted for more than a fifth of international maritime trade in 2022, or about $2.45 trillion.

David Perdue, U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee for U.S. ambassador to China, attended his Senate confirmation hearing on April 3. In his prepared testimony, he said he would support the Taiwan Relations Act as ambassador.

“We remain committed to a peaceful resolution that is acceptable to the people on both sides of the Strait. We oppose unilateral changes to the status quo,” Perdue stated.

Taiwan and the United States are not diplomatic allies. Washington ended its diplomatic ties with Taipei in favor of Beijing in 1979. Still, it has maintained a robust relationship with the island based on the Taiwan Relations Act, which was signed into law by President Jimmy Carter in April 1979.

The law authorizes the United States to provide Taiwan with military equipment for self-defense and set up a nonprofit corporation called the American Institute in Taiwan, now the de facto U.S. Embassy on the island.