“Democracies in North America and Europe need to step up their commercial ties with the democracies in the Indo-Pacific region, including bolstering their energy supplies”
Regardless, the Évian Summit would be a timely opportunity for the G7, includ- ing the US, to reiterate its support for Taiwan. In the second half of 2025, Japan’s then newly elected prime minister, Taka- ichi Sanae, publicly stated that Japan would treat a Chinese attack on Taiwan as an “existential threat” to Japan. This phrase is important, as it allows Japan to pursue a robust set of military measures in defending peace in the Indo-Pacific region, particularly in waters proximate to Japan, including the Taiwan Strait. AN EVOLVING SECURITY COMMITMENT The leaders of France, the United King- dom, Germany and Canada all made significant visits to Beijing in late 2025 or early 2026. They are all pursuing trade opportunities for their respec- tive countries, but they also expressed support for the continued status quo between China and Taiwan. The days of rushing into commercial dealings with China are over for western countries. The tone and execution today are much more cautious, as they should be. Great care must be taken that western econ- omies do not become dependent on Chinese supply chains. Similarly, G7 members and their part- ners should continue the policy that prevents western countries from selling the highest performance semiconduc- tor chips, and the machines that make them, to buyers in China. Democracies do not want China using western tech- nologies, including those that enable the strongest forms of artificial intelligence, to help China build its surveillance, oppression and military systems. As if to remind the West why this objec- tive remains critical, China conducted very significant military actions around Taiwan at the beginning of 2026, with the type of manoeuvres that Admiral Samuel Paparo, commander of US forces in the Pacific, labelled as rehearsals for a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. Equally, the recent warming of rela- tions between China and North Korea should remind G7 leaders of the glob-
ally significant nuclear threat posed by Pyongyang, and its persistent internet hacking aimed at victims in the West, including the ongoing theft of crypto- currencies by North Korean groups. Recent events flowing from the war in Iran have also affected countries in the Indo-Pacific region. The restriction of tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz highlights the importance of Middle Eastern energy supplies to cus- tomers in Asia. Early in the Iranian hostilities, Beijing indicated that if Taiwan would agree to a voluntary uni- fication with China, the Chinese would meet Taiwan’s energy needs. Taiwan immediately rejected this offer, calling it a form of “cognitive warfare”.
ENERGY SECURITY AND INTERDEPENDENCE
This Chinese offer illustrates why democracies in North America and Europe need to step up their commer- cial ties with the democracies in the Indo-Pacific region, including bolstering their energy supplies. A good example is the Hai Long offshore wind farm, one of the largest in Asia, which Canadian company Northland Energy has built and is operating off the west coast of Taiwan, supplying enough electricity to power 2 million Taiwanese households. The Iran war also illustrates the benefits that can come from the G7 supporting smaller democracies. The G7 has provided military and finan- cial support to Kyiv to help it withstand Russia’s illegal and unprovoked attack on Ukraine. It was therefore heartening for democracies world-wide to witness Ukraine concluding tech transfer deals with Gulf states to sell them Ukrainian drone technology to counter missiles and drones fired at them by Iran. Unity among democracies can pay large divi- dends in global geopolitics. At the Évian Summit, in addition to reiterating its resolve to support Ukraine’s critical fight for its own free- dom and democracy, the G7 should re-commit to peace through security in the Indo-Pacific region.
// GEORGE S TAKACH George S Takach is a former technology lawyer and author of Cold War 2.0: Artificial Intel- ligence in the New Battle Between China , Russia and America and, most recently,
Inspired by Taiwan . He is a senior fellow at the Bill
Graham Centre for Contem- porary International History at the University of Toronto.
29 globalgovernancemedia.org
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