Commentary
A few weeks ago, a column in this space described Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s hopes for the G-7 meetings in Hiroshima. He wanted those powerful economies—Canada, France, Germany, Italy, his own Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States—to counter Beijing’s unfair and often bullying trade practices. He seems to have got what he wanted.
Those assembled in Hiroshima have announced a joint plan to do just that. Their 41-page communiqué makes overtures to China but also decries Beijing’s “coercive tactics” and seeks to free their economies from such practices by “de-risking” if not outright “de-coupling” them from China. The seven nations meeting in Japan has further created an initiative to “increase our collective assessment, preparedness, deterrence, and response to economic coercion,” according to the U.S. Department of State Department. U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel explained that the frequency with which Beijing turns to coercion requires a coordinated rather than piecemeal or, to use his words, “ad hoc” approach followed thus far….