AFP, Liverpool

The West and its allies need to be united against authoritarianism, UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said yesterday, as she hosted G7 counterparts with concern about threats from Russia and China.

The two-day gathering of foreign ministers from the world’s richest nations in Liverpool, northwest England, is the last in-person gathering of Britain’s year-long G7 presidency, before it hands over the baton to Germany.

Russia’s build-up of troops on Ukraine’s border is top of the agenda, alongside discussions on confronting China, limiting Iran’s nuclear ambitions and addressing the crisis in military-ruled Myanmar.

“We need to come together strongly to stand up to aggressors who are seeking to limit the bounds of freedom and democracy,” Truss said as she formally opened the talks, without mentioning specific countries.

“To do this, we need to have a fully united voice. We need to expand our economic and security posture around the world.”

Truss held talks on the sidelines of the summit on Friday with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken as well as Germany’s new Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.

Blinken flies on to Southeast Asia next week on a visit designed to highlight the region’s importance in Washington’s strategy of standing up to an increasingly assertive China in the region.

Ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) will join the G7 summit for the first time ever today, in a session earmarked for wide-ranging talks on issues including Covid-19 vaccines, finance and gender equality.

South Korea, Australia, South Africa and India will also participate as Britain’s chosen G7 “guests”, with many attendees taking part virtually due to the pandemic and emergence of the Omicron variant.

Truss, who replaced Dominic Raab as Britain’s top diplomat in September, delivered her first major foreign policy address Wednesday as crises loom around the world.

She warned Moscow it would be “a strategic mistake” to invade Ukraine, following growing concerns over a big Russian troop build-up on the border.

At a G7 leaders’ summit in June, Biden pushed for a stronger collective stance towards both China and Russia, and this week saw Washington, London and Canberra announce diplomatic boycotts of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

Truss has said the West needs to work towards ending the “strategic dependence” of a growing number of low- and middle-income countries on its adversaries, in various areas from energy to technology.

At the summit she will push attendees to provide those countries with more finance for infrastructure and technology projects, according to the foreign office.

G7 countries and their allies must offer “an alternative to unsustainable debt from non-market economies” like China, it said.