G7 will stand up to 'any coercion' from China - senior US official

Japan’s Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, Deputy Secretary-General of the European External Action Service (EEAS) Enrique Mora, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken pose for a photo at the start of the first working session of a G7 Foreign ministers’ meeting at Karuizawa Prince Hotel West in Karuizawa, Nagano prefecture, Japan, 17 April 2023. The summit runs through 18 April 2023. FRANCK ROBICHON/Pool via REUTERS

The Group of Seven nations see eye to eye on the need to stand up to any Chinese "coercion" or efforts to exert control in the Taiwan Strait, a senior U.S. State Department official said on Monday, amid increased tensions around Taiwan.

Concerns about what the G7 wealthy nations see as China's increasingly aggressive stance on Taiwan and more broadly in the Indo-Pacific region have been in sharp focus during talks among G7 foreign ministers in the Japanese resort town of Karuizawa.