By Ankit Panda
The leaders of the G-7 came together to call for maritime security, and condemned North Korea’s nuclear program.
After two days of meetings in southern Germany, the leaders of the seven states in the G-7— Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States—issued a joint statement, addressing a range of global issues. The statement, as it has in the past, addressed Asian security issues head-on. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, as the only Asian leader within the grouping, which brings together like-minded industrial nations, had pledged to raise the prominence of Asian issues on the G-7 agenda. As a result, the G-7 leaders statement addresses current maritime tensions in the East and South China Seas, and concerns over North Korea’s continuing nuclear weapons program.
The G-7 leaders call for “maintaining a rules-based maritime order and achieving maritime security.” To this end, they noted that they “are committed to maintaining a rules-based order in the maritime domain based on the principles of international law, in particular as reflected in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea [UNCLOS].” They add:
We are concerned by tensions in the East and South China Seas. We underline the importance of peaceful dispute settlement as well as free and unimpeded lawful use of the world’s oceans. We strongly oppose the use of intimidation, coercion or force, as well as any unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo, such as large scale land reclamation. We endorse the Declaration on Maritime Security issued by G7 Foreign Ministers in Lübeck.*
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