UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged the G7 countries to avoid dividing the world into Cold War-style blocs associated with either the United States or China. Meanwhile, Western leaders focused on Russia and China in a joint declaration on nuclear weapons.
Guterres urged for “active dialogue and cooperation” between the G7 nations and China on climate change and development in an interview with Japan’s Kyodo News on Saturday, as the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States convened in Hiroshima.
“I believe it is critical to avoid dividing the world into two parts, and it is critical to build bridges for serious negotiation,” he stated.
In recent years, Guterres has regularly warned of a building Cold War between Western nations and China, describing conflicting economic, political, and military interests as a “great fracture” in 2019. Relations between Beijing and Washington, in particular, have deteriorated in the last year, with China cutting climate cooperation with the US in response to a visit to Taiwan by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in August, and US President Joe Biden threatening military action if Beijing moves to retake control of the island.
While Guterres spoke out against “the division of the world,” the G7 leaders’ joint statement on Friday deepened that split. Concerning nuclear weapons, the statement accused Russia of “irresponsible nuclear rhetoric” and “undermining of arms control regimes,” while labeling China’s nuclear development as “a concern to global and regional security.”
Russia, on the other side, has harshly denounced the UK for supplying Ukraine with depleted uranium munitions. Last week, Russian forces blasted a storehouse in Khmelnitsky carrying British-supplied depleted uranium shells, sending a “radioactive cloud towards Western Europe,” Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev said on Friday.
Previously, the Kremlin claimed that “the British…will be held accountable” for delivering such weapons to Ukraine.
Moscow has also accused Kiev of wanting to trigger a nuclear accident by attacking Russia’s Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant. The statement issued by the G7 leaders chastised Russia for seizing control of the plant, but made no mention of Ukraine’s attacks on it.
