Member states of the G7 alliance have released a joint statement condemning China’s decision to conduct the latest major military drill around Taiwan, stating the Chinese government is destabilising peace across the region.

“We express deep concern about China’s provocative actions, particularly the recent large-scale military drills around Taiwan,” the foreign ministers for Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the U.S. and the high representative of the EU said in a joint statement on Friday. 

The statement followed the conclusion of a two-day military drill on the East China Sea around Taiwan by the People’s Liberation Army in which it held long-range and live-fire drills, marking the latest escalation around the de facto democratically governed nation, which China views as its own territory.

“These increasingly frequent and destabilising activities are raising cross-Strait tensions and put at risk global security and prosperity,” the statement said. “G7 members and the larger international community have an interest in the preservation of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.”

The Chinese military said last week’s drill was organised to test its troops’ “integrated joint operations capabilities” and strengthen its combat readiness to resolutely thwart any separatist activities seeking Taiwan independence amid rising tensions between China and the West on their contrasting positions on Taiwan’s affairs.

The G7 reiterated its opposition to any unilateral action, including force or coercion by China to forcefully take over Taiwan, noting that members of the alliance will “continue to encourage the peaceful resolution of issues through constructive cross-Strait dialogue.”