This succinct sentence made its first ever appearance in a Summit Communiqué of the Group of Seven (G-7) on June 13. Two days later, the same content also appeared in the EU-U.S. Summit Statement for the first time. The stress on peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait followed several high-level joint statements in the second quarter of 2021: the Australia-Japan 2+2 Foreign and Defense Ministerial Consultations earlier in June, the EU-Japan Summit , the South Korea-U.S. Summit, the G-7 Foreign and Development Ministers’ Meeting in May, and the Japan-U.S. Summitin April.
The 2021 G-7 Summit – aiming to recover from the pandemic and to “build back better” – was under an unusually bright spotlight. Political leaders around the world are watching closely to see how the new U.S. administration and its partners negotiate on a common agenda. That includes what items will be included in the shared priorities that concern them.
