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Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis hailed his party’s victory in the parliamentary elections as a “political earthquake” after the conservatives secured a smashing win but fell short of forming a majority.
With most votes counted after the election on Sunday, the ruling New Democracy party has secured a commanding lead with 40.8 per cent of the votes, while the previous governing party, Syriza, trailed far behind with 20.1 per cent for the 300-seat Hellenic Parliament.
However, Mr Mitsokais’s party fell just short of the majority required to form a government on its own, as the fate of the new government still hangs in limbo.
According to projections by Greece's interior ministry, New Democracy is expected to win 145 seats in parliament, which is six seats shy of an absolute majority.
Starting from Monday, Greek president Katerina Sakellaropoulou will give the top three parties - New Democracy, Syriza, and the Socialist PASOK – three days each to attempt to form a coalition government.
If all three parties fail, Ms Sakellaropoulou will appoint a caretaker government to prepare for new elections to be held approximately a month later.
Without Mr Mitsotakis, the numbers for potential coalitions do not add up, as Syriza has 72 seats, PASOK has 41 seats, the Communist KKE party has 26 seats, and the right-wing Hellenic Solution party has 16 seats.
The KKE party has already stated that it will not participate in any alliance, while the Hellenic Solution party has been critical of both New Democracy and Syriza.
Mr Mitsotakis, who served as prime minister and leader of the New Democracy leader, had expressed his desire for a strong one-party government, but he believes that the election results provide a clear mandate.
Addressing supporters outside party headquarters in Athens, Mr Mitsotakis called his party’s victory a “political earthquake”.
"The ballot results are decisive. They show that New Democracy has the approval of the people to rule, strong and autonomous."
This victory for Mr Mitsotakis is quite significant, as his administration faced numerous challenges, including a wiretapping scandal, the Covid-19 pandemic, a cost of living crisis, and a fatal rail crash that sparked public outrage.
However, it comes as a significant setback for Syriza and its leader Alexis Tsipras, who rose to power in 2015 on the wave of public dissatisfaction with other parties' handling of the debt crisis that severely impacted Greece's economy for over a decade.
The MeRA25 movement, led by former Syriza finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, failed to secure any seats in parliament.
Mr Tsipras, who congratulated Mr Mitsotakis on his win, noted that the race is not over and talked about the possibility of a second election.
“Battles have wins, and losses,” he said. “The electoral cycle has not ended yet ... it is very possible there will be a second election.”
Kyriakos Mitsotakis, center under the Greek flag, speaks to his supporters during his election campaign in northern Athens
Greece faced the threat of a eurozone exit during the height of its debt crisis in 2015, leading to the country accepting a third bailout under Mr Tsipras' leadership.
Mr Mitsotakis, elected in 2019, focused his campaign on improving the financial conditions of the Greek people, promising to raise wages and pensions that were cut during the crisis.
Panos Koliastasis, an adjunct assistant professor of politics at the University of Peloponnese, attributed Mitsotakis' victory to his emphasis on addressing financial concerns and his clear proposal for an autonomous government.
“He also had a clear proposal of (how) he will be in power - that of an autonomous government,” he said.
“The alternative of Syriza, of a coalition government, wasn’t that realistic because others refused to cooperate.”
The elections in Greece are held every four years to determine the composition of the 300-seat parliament.
oe Biden told the G7 that Putin “will not break our resolve" in supporting Ukraine on Sunday on the summit’s final day.
Speaking at a press conference in Japan, the US president said he has recieved a “flat assurance” from Kyiv that Western-provided F-16 fighter jets would not go into Russian territory.
These powerful warplanes, which are being sought by Ukraine, could be used “wherever Russian troops are within Ukraine and the area", he said.
But Mr Biden said it was “highly unlikely” the planes would be used in any Ukrainian offensive in the coming weeks, but that troops could need such weapons to defend themselves.
Earlier, Mr Biden announced a $375 million (£301m) package of military aid, including artillery and armoured vehicles, for Ukraine.
Despite the threat, the US President said the G7 had “reaffirmed our shared and unwavering, let me say it again, our shared and unwavering commitment to stand with the brave people of Ukraine as they defend themselves against Russia's brutal war of aggression and the war crimes being committed”.
He added: “Together with the entire G7, we have Ukraine’s back and I promise we’re not going anywhere.”
Western allies also vowed on Sunday that they would not back down from supporting Ukraine, in a warning to Vladimir Putin as he claimed to have taken the eastern city of Bakhmut. This is denied by Kyiv, which insists the city is not occupied by Russia.
He told reporters that he had discussed the issue of sending F-16 jets to Ukraine during a private meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky.
He said F-16s would not have helped Ukrainian forces with regard to Bakhmut but could “make a big difference in terms of being able to deal with what is coming down the road".
Mr Biden said separately that the G7 had agreed a united approach to China which called for countries to reduce their reliance on China.
“We’re not looking to decouple from China. We’re looking to de-risk and diversify our relationship with China,” he said.
He said the countries were united in “resisting economic coercion together and countering harmful practices that hurt our workers."
G7 leaders outlined a shared approach to "de-risk, not decouple" economic engagement with China in a statement on Saturday, prompting China to complain to Japan which is the summit organiser.
Despite the reaction, Biden said he expected a thaw in frosty relations with China “very shortly" after strains caused by an incident earlier this year when the United States shot down a Chinese balloon that flew over sensitive military sites.
On tensions between China and Taiwan, Mr Biden said there was a clear understanding among most of the allies that if China were to act unilaterally against the self-governed island Taiwan, there would be a response.
“We’re not going to tell China what they can do," he said. “But in the meantime we’re going to put Taiwan in a position where they can defend themselves.”
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Russian President Vladimir Putin has congratulated the Wagner mercenary force and the Russian army for what he called the “liberation” of the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, which Russia calls by its Soviet-era name of Artyomovsk.
In a statement published on the Kremlin website, Putin said that the battle - the longest and bloodiest of the 15-month war - had ended in a Russian victory:
The Head of State congratulated Wagner’s assault groups, as well as all members of the units of the Russian Armed Forces who provided them with the necessary support and cover on their flanks, on the completion of the operation to liberate Artyomovsk (Bakhmut). All those who distinguished themselves will be presented with state awards.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has laid flowers at a cenotaph in Hiroshima honouring those who died after the US dropped an atomic bomb on the city in August 1945.
Accompanied by the Japanese prime minister, Fumio Kishida, Zelenskiy earlier visited the Peace Memorial Museum, where exhibits show the full horror of the attack, in which an estimated 60,000 to 80,000 people died instantly, with the death toll rising to 140,000 by the end of the year as more succumbed to burns and illnesses caused by exposure to radiation.
The names of more than 300,000 people whose deaths during the past 78 years have been attributed to the bombing are listed at the cenotaph, whose inscription reads: “Let all the souls here rest in peace, for we shall not repeat the evil.”
After laying bouquets on podiums, Kishida and Zelenskiy lowered their heads and posed for a photograph before listening to an explanation of the memorial from the mayor of Hiroshima, Kazumi Matsui.
Ukrainian forces have partly encircled the besieged eastern city of Bakhmut along the flanks and still maintain control of a private sector in the city, Ukraine’s deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar has said.
She made the remarks on the Telegram messaging app shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin said the battle had ended with a Russian victory.
Maliar said Ukrainian troops are continuing their advances along Bakhmut’s outskirts and have claimed part of the heights overlooking the city.
She wrote:
Our forces have taken the city in a semi-encirclement, which gives us the opportunity to destroy the enemy. Therefore, the enemy has to defend himself in the part of the city he controls.
Maliar added that Ukrainian troops are still defending industrial and infrastructure facilities in Bakhmut.
Russia’s top lawmaker has called for a ban on Polish trucks transiting Russian territory and for Poland to compensate Moscow financially for what he said was the Soviet rebuilding of the east European country after the second world war.
In a statement, Vyacheslav Volodin, the chair of the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, said Poland needed to be punished for having “betrayed the historical memory” of the Soviet Union’s liberation of the country from Nazi Germany with a series of hostile acts against Moscow.
In comments certain to deepen a feud with Warsaw, Volodin said Poland existed as a state only “thanks to our country”, said Warsaw should pay Russia more than $750bn to compensate it for Soviet investment in the country after 1945.
He said Poland should also hand back territory it received after the war.
There was no immediate reaction to his comments from Warsaw.
Volodin said a parliamentary committee would begin considering a ban on Polish trucks entering Russian territory as soon as Monday. Such a move, he said, would cause Poland significant financial pain and job losses.
Russia last month promised it would respond harshly to what it said was Poland’s illegal seizure of its embassy school in Warsaw, an act it called a flagrant violation of the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations.
Reuters has posted a useful summary of the key Ukraine-related developments from the G7:
Volodymyr Zelenskiy sought support for Kyiv’s “peace formula” to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, telling G7 leaders at the summit in the Japanese city of Hiroshima it was “an obvious expression of rationality”.
Meeting with Zelenskiy, US President Joe Biden announced a $375m package of military aid to Ukraine, telling him the US was doing all it could to strengthen Ukraine’s defence against Russia.
Potential allied training programmes for Ukrainian pilots on F-16 warplanes were a message to Russia not to expect to succeed in its invasion of Ukraine even in a prolonged conflict, said the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz.
Biden told G7 leaders that Washington supports the joint allied training programmes, senior US officials said, a significant endorsement as Kyiv seeks to boost its air power against Russia.
The Hiroshima summit gave Zelenskiy a chance to win over countries from the “global south” such as Brazil and India in an attempt to broaden support for his country in its war against Russia.
The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said G7 decisions at the summit were aimed at the “double containment” of Russia and China.
Canada will support Ukraine for as long and as much as necessary in its conflict with Russia, including the training of Ukrainian soldiers and possibly pilots, said the prime minister Justin Trudeau.
Britain published plans to ban imports of Russian diamonds, copper, aluminium and nickel and announced a new wave of sanctions against Russia, targeting companies connected to the alleged theft of Ukrainian grain.
Zelenskiy arrived on a French government-labelled military aircraft for the G7 summit in Hiroshima, after addressing an Arab League summit, marked an achievement for the French president, Emmanuel Macron.
A Russian-installed official in Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia region said that Kyiv had struck the Russian-held port city of Berdyansk with British-supplied Storm Shadow cruise missiles, Reuters reports.
In a statement on Telegram, Vladimir Rogov said that seven missiles had been fired at the city, four of which were Storm Shadow missiles. He said six of the missiles had been intercepted and one had fallen on the edge of the city but had not caused any casualties.
Reuters could not independently verify his assertion.
The founder of Georgia’s national airline Georgian Airways has banned the country’s president from using its services after she said she would boycott the airline over its resumption of flights to Russia, Russia’s TASS news agency reports.
Russia announced this month it was lifting a four-year old ban on direct flights with Georgia and removing a decades-old visa requirement for Georgians travelling to Russia.
President Salome Zourabichvili urged Georgian authorities to thwart the Russian initiative, which they ignored.
Tamaz Gaiashvili, founder of privately-owned Georgian Airways, was cited by TASS on Sunday as saying that Zourabichvili was now “persona non grata” and would be banned until she “apologises before the Georgian people”.
There was no immediate reaction from Zourabichvili.
Although Georgian officials welcomed the resumption of flights, some Georgians who want the South Caucasus country to distance itself from Moscow in favour of the European Union demonstrated against it in central Tbilisi on Sunday.
Many Georgians oppose any rapprochement with Moscow whose troops garrison two breakaway regions - Abkhazia and South Ossetia - that make up around one fifth of the country’s territory.
Other Georgians are more open to the idea however, and the Georgian government has in recent years worked to improve ties with Moscow, declining to impose sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine.
President Zourabichvili, whose position is largely ceremonial and whose relations with the government are strained, has warned that deepening ties with Russia could jeopardise the country’s chances of the EU one day.
The Guardian’s Justin McCurry has the full report on everything that’s happened at the G7 today, including the US military aid pledge and Zelenskiy’s speech:
US President Joe Biden has announced a new package of military aid of up to $375 million to Ukraine, telling President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that the United States is doing all it can to strengthen Ukraine’s defence.
Biden, meeting with the Ukrainian leader on the sidelines of the G7 summit of world leaders in Japan, said the military aid package included ammunition, artillery, armoured vehicles and training.
He said:
Together with the entire G7, we have Ukraine’s back and I promise we’re not going anywhere.
In the meeting, Biden stressed his country’s readiness to help build Ukraine’s long-term capacity to defend against and deter Russian aggression and US support for a joint effort with allied and partner nations to train Ukrainian pilots on fourth-generation fighter aircraft such as the F-16., the White House said.
Zelenskiy thanked the US for the new package, and for the financial assistance of $37 billion to date, his office said.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has told G7 leaders in an address on Sunday that Kyiv’s plan to end Russia’s war in Ukraine is “an obvious expression of rationality”.
Zelenskiy, who is attending the G7 summit in Japan in person, has in recent months been seeking global support for a “peace formula”.
Thanking western leaders for achieving “a level of cooperation which ensures that democracy, international law, and freedom are respected”, he said:
The more we all work together, the less likely anyone else in the world will follow Russia’s insane path But is this enough?
He added that he planned to spend his day at the G7 discussing the Ukrainian Peace Formula.
We’re united by one more principle - rationality.
We always act practically protecting our values. And the Ukrainian Peace Formula is an obvious expression of rationality. I thank you for supporting our Formula.
Zelenskiy has pushed Western allies and other countries to go further on both economic and military measures to support Kyiv as Russia’s 15-month invasion drags on.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has congratulated the Wagner mercenary force and the Russian army for what he called the “liberation” of the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, which Russia calls by its Soviet-era name of Artyomovsk.
In a statement published on the Kremlin website, Putin said that the battle - the longest and bloodiest of the 15-month war - had ended in a Russian victory:
The Head of State congratulated Wagner’s assault groups, as well as all members of the units of the Russian Armed Forces who provided them with the necessary support and cover on their flanks, on the completion of the operation to liberate Artyomovsk (Bakhmut). All those who distinguished themselves will be presented with state awards.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy did not confirm the capture by Russian forces of the besieged eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, his spokesman said on Sunday challenging earlier reports.
Sergii Nykyforov wrote on Facebook suggesting that Zelenskiy’s comments have been misinterpreted:
Reporter’s question: Russians said they have taken Bakhmut. President’s reply: I think no. In this way, the president denied the capture of Bakhmut.
German police have opened an investigation after a Russian journalist and an activist who participated in a Berlin conference reported health problems that suggested possible poisoning, Agence France-Presse is reporting, citing the newspaper Welt am Sonntag.
“A file has been opened based on the information available,” a Berlin police spokesperson told the Sunday weekly. Berlin police were not immediately available to respond, according to AFP.
The Russian investigative media outlet Agentstvo published an investigation this week reporting on the health problems encountered by two participants at a meeting of Russian dissidents on 29 April and 30 organised by exiled former oligarch turned Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
One participant, identified as a journalist who had recently left Russia, experienced unspecified symptoms during the event and said they may have started earlier.
The report added that the journalist went to the Charite University hospital in Berlin where Putin critic Alexei Navalny was treated after being poisoned in August 2020.
Reuters is reporting Volodymyr Zelenskiy appeared to confirm the loss of the city of Bakhmut to Russia on Sunday, saying “I think no” when asked if it remained in Kyiv’s control.
“I think no,” he said ahead of a meeting with Joe Biden at the G7 summit, according to Reuters. “For today, it is only in our hearts.”
Among those not able to verify Wagner’s claim of victory in the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, is US thinktank the Institute for the Study of War.
In its regular update, not only does it say, “ISW has not observed geolocated footage confirming Prigozhin’s claims as of this publication”, but it also goes on to assess if it really tactically matters anyway.
“Prigozhin’s claimed victory over the remaining areas in Bakhmut is purely symbolic even if true. The last few urban blocks of eastern Bakhmut that Prigozhin claimed that Wagner Group forces captured are not tactically or operationally significant,” it says.
“Their capture does not grant Russian forces operationally significant terrain to continue conducting offensive operations or any particularly strong position from which to defend against possible Ukrainian counterattacks.”
Welcome back to our live coverage of Russia’s war in Ukraine. I’m Christine Kearney and here’s a run through of the latest developments.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy is attempting to win support from the wider international community during a furious round of diplomacy on the final day of the G7 summit in Hiroshima.
He is due to meet US president Joe Biden for a bilateral meeting on Sunday afternoon amid speculation that Washington could announce a new weapons package for Ukraine.
French president Emmanuel Macron said the G7 summit in Japan was an opportunity to convince big emerging states such as India and Brazil regarding Ukraine. Macron said Zelenskiy’s surprise visit was a “game changer”. The Ukrainian president is due to speak at 7.15 pm (1015 GMT) on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Kyiv has denied a claim by the head of Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, that the Russian mercenary group has full control of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. Neither statement can be independently verified.
More on the G7 and other stories shortly. In other news:
Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin made the Bakhmut victory claim in a video in which he appeared in combat fatigues in front of a line of fighters holding Russian flags and Wagner banners. “Today, at 12 noon, Bakhmut was completely taken,” Prigozhin said. He said that his forces would withdraw from Bakhmut from 25 May for rest and retraining.
The Russian defence ministry also said the capture of Bakhmut had been ‘completed’ andpresident Vladimir Putin congratulated troops. He said those who had distinguished themselves would be given awards, domestic Russian news agencies reported.
Speaking before the Russian ministry’s statement, Ukraine’s military rejected Prigozhin’s claim and said its troops were continuing to fight in the ruined eastern city. “This is not true. Our units are fighting in Bakhmut,” military spokesperson Serhiy Cherevatyi told Reuters. In its daily update early Sunday, the military also said: ‘Fighting for the city of Bakhmut does not stop.”
Ukraine’s deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said the situation in Bakhmut was critical, with Ukrainian troops maintaining a defence in the south-western part of the city. “Heavy fighting in Bakhmut. The situation is critical,” she said on the Telegram messaging app. “As of now, our defenders control some industrial and infrastructure facilities in the area and the private sector.”
The G7 has condemned Russia’s “brutal” war on its neighbour Ukraine “in the strongest possible terms”, calling it a “serious violation of international law”, in its final communique from this week’s summit in Japan. The world leaders called for “just and lasting peace” and recommitted their intention to provide Ukraine with military, financial and humanitarian support.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he had invited India to join Ukraine’s peace formula during his talks with the country’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, on the sidelines of the summit. Zelenskiy said on Telegram that they also discussed Ukraine’s needs in de-mining and mobile hospitals during their first face-to-face meeting since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Reuters reported.
The US president, Joe Biden, will announce a $375m military aid package for Ukraine while in Japan, a US official has said. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said on Friday that the package would include artillery, ammunition and Himars rocket launchers, Reuters reported.
Pope Francis has tasked a leading Italian cardinal with a mission in hopes it can “ease tensions” in the Ukraine war and lead to a path of peace, the Vatican said Saturday. In a brief written statement, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said that Francis had entrusted the mission to Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, who is close to the pontiff. The Associated Press reports that Bruni said the timetable and the mechanics of the mission “are currently under study.”
The international criminal court said on Saturday that it was “undeterred” after Russia put prosecutor Karim Khan on a wanted list over his issuance of an arrest warrant for president Vladimir Putin. Khan, who is British, issued an arrest warrant for Putin in March on the war crime accusation of unlawfully deporting Ukrainian children. Khan’s picture could be seen in the Russian interior ministry’s database on Friday.
An aide to the Polish president, Andrzej Duda, has said the object that entered Poland’s airspace last year and was found in April was a Russian-made rocket. Associated Press reports that the aide, Paweł Szrot, said on Radio RMF FM on Friday that the nose of the rocket had been found and that it was “peculiar” because it was made of concrete. It was being examined by experts.
As the G7 leaders sent a strong message to Russia by inviting Volodymyr Zelensky to Hiroshima, another rival was also on their minds - China.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said China posed "the greatest challenge of our age" in regards to global security and prosperity, and that it was "increasingly authoritarian at home and abroad".
And in not one but two statements, the leaders of the world's richest democracies made clear to Beijing their stance on divisive issues such as the Indo-Pacific and Taiwan. But the most important part of their message centred on what they called "economic coercion".
It's a tricky balancing act for the G7. Through trade their economies have become inextricably dependent on China, but competition with Beijing has increased and they disagree on many issues including human rights.
Now, they worry they are being held hostage.
In recent years, Beijing has been unafraid to slap trade sanctions on countries that have displeased them. This includes South Korea, when Seoul installed a US missile defence system, and Australia during a recent period of chilly relations.
The European Union was particularly alarmed when China blocked Lithuanian exports after the Baltic country allowed Taiwan to set up a de facto embassy there.
So it is unsurprising that the G7 would condemn what they see as a "disturbing rise" of the "weaponisation of economic vulnerabilities".
This coercion, they said, seeks to "undermine the foreign and domestic policies and positions of G7 members as well as partners around the world".
They called for "de-risking"- a policy that Ms von der Leyen, who is attending the summit, has championed. This is a more moderate version of the US' idea of "decoupling" from China, where they would talk tougher in diplomacy, diversify trade sources, and protect trade and technology.
They have also launched a "coordination platform" to counter the coercion and work with emerging economies. While it's still vague on how this would work exactly, we're likely to see countries helping each other out by increasing trade or funding to work around any blockages put up by China.
The G7 also plans to strengthen supply chains for important goods such as minerals and semiconductors, and beef up digital infrastructure to prevent hacking and stealing of technology.
But the biggest stick they plan to wield is multilateral export controls. This means working together to ensure their technologies, particularly those used in military and intelligence, don't end up in the hands of "malicious actors" .
The US is already doing this with its ban on exports of chips and chip technology to China, which Japan and the Netherlands have joined. The G7 is making clear such efforts would not only continue, but ramp up, despite Beijing's protestations.
They also said they would continue to crack down on the "inappropriate transfers" of technology shared through research activities. The US and many other countries have been concerned about industrial espionage and have jailed people accused of stealing tech secrets for China.
At the same time, the G7 leaders were clear they did not want to sever the cord.
Much of their language on economic coercion did not name China, in an apparent diplomatic attempt to not directly point a finger at Beijing.
When they did talk about China, they stood their ground in a nuanced way.
They sought to placate Beijing, saying their policies were "not designed to harm China nor do we seek to thwart China's economic progress and development". They were "not decoupling or turning inwards".
But they also put pressure on the Chinese to cooperate, saying that a "growing China that plays by international rules would be of global interest".
They also called for "candid" engagement where they could still express their concerns directly to China, signalling their willingness to keep communication lines open in a tense atmosphere.
We won't know how, privately, Chinese leaders and diplomats will take the G7's message. But state media in the past has hit back at the West for trying to have it both ways, by criticising China while also enjoying the fruits of their economic partnership.
For now Beijing has chosen to fall back on its usual angry rhetoric for its public response.
Reuters
China had clearly anticipated the G7's statements and in the days leading up to the summit, its state media and embassies put out pieces accusing the US of its own economic coercion and hypocrisy.
On Saturday evening, they accused the G7 of "smearing and attacking" China and lodged a complaint with summit organiser Japan.
They also urged the other G7 countries not to become the US' "accomplice in economic coercion", and called on them to "stop ganging up to form exclusive blocs" and "containing and bludgeoning other countries".
It is worth noting that China has also sought to create its own alliances with other countries, and late last week just as the G7 summit kicked off, it hosted a parallel meeting with Central Asian countries.
It's still not clear if the G7's plan will work. But it is likely to be welcomed by those who have called for a clear strategy to handle China's encroachments.
Indo-Pacific and China expert Andrew Small praised the statement as having "the feel of a real consensus", noting that it expressed the "centre-ground" view of the G7.
"There are still major debates playing out around what 'de-risking' actually means, how far some of the sensitive technology export restrictions should go, and what sort of collective measures need to be taken against economic coercion," said Dr Small, a senior transatlantic fellow with the German Marshall Fund think tank.
"But there is now a clear and explicit framing around how the economic relationships with China among the advanced industrial economies need to be rebalanced."
A temporary ceasefire in Sudan has been agreed as fighting between two warring factions entered its sixth week.
Previous truce attempts between Sudan's regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have tended to collapse within minutes of beginning.
But the new deal will be enforced by a "ceasefire monitoring mechanism," according to a US-Saudi statement.
As part of the seven-day humanitarian ceasefire, Sudanese officials have agreed to restore essential services.
Fighting between the two sides has plunged the country into chaos since it began last month, with more than a million people thought to have been displaced.
Qatar said on Saturday that its embassy in the capital Khartoum had been ransacked by "irregular armed forces", and it called for the perpetrators to be held accountable for the "heinous act".
Other embassies, including Jordan's, have also been previously ransacked, along with aid warehouses of the UN.
Stocks of food, money and essentials have fast declined and aid groups repeatedly complained of being unable to provide sufficient assistance in Khartoum, where much of the violence has taken place.
Both the regular army and the RSF have been urged to allow the distribution of humanitarian aid, restore essential services and withdraw forces from hospitals.
The United States and Saudi Arabia, who sponsored the peace talks in Jeddah, said the ceasefire would come into effect on Monday evening.
In a statement, the US State Department acknowledged previous failed attempts at brokering peace in Sudan, but said there was a key difference this time.
"Unlike previous ceasefires, the agreement reached in Jeddah was signed by the parties and will be supported by a US-Saudi and international-supported ceasefire monitoring mechanism," it said, without giving more detail.
Taking to Twitter, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken added: "It is past time to silence the guns and allow unhindered humanitarian access.
"I implore both sides to uphold this agreement - the eyes of the world are watching."
The war broke out in Khartoum on 15 April following days of tension as members of the RSF were redeployed around the country in a move that the army saw as a threat.
There was also a power struggle between Sudan's regular army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who leads the RSF.
Hundreds of people have been killed in the fighting and the UN has warned of a worsening situation in Africa's third-largest country, where a huge number of people already relied on aid before the conflict.
It has been two weeks since representatives of the warring factions first gathered in the Saudi capital for peace talks.
On 11 May, both sides signed a commitment intended to lay the groundwork for humanitarian assistance in Sudan.
But earlier this week, UN aid chief Martin Griffiths told the AFP news agency there had been "important and egregious" violations of that agreement, which he added fell short of a ceasefire.
Reports of violence across the country remain rife, with strikes reported on Saturday by eyewitnesses in southern Omdurman and northern Bahri, the two cities that lie across the Nile from Khartoum.
An Omdurman resident recalled her house "shaking" early on Saturday as a result of "heavy artillery fire".
"It was terrifying, everyone was lying under their beds," Sanaa Hassan, a 33-year-old living in the al-Salha neighbourhood, told Reuters by phone. "What's happening is a nightmare."
A temporary ceasefire in Sudan has been agreed as fighting between two warring factions entered its sixth week.
Previous truce attempts between Sudan's regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have tended to collapse within minutes of beginning.
But the new deal will be enforced by a "ceasefire monitoring mechanism," according to a US-Saudi statement.
As part of the seven-day humanitarian ceasefire, Sudanese officials have agreed to restore essential services.
Fighting between the two sides has plunged the country into chaos since it began last month, with more than a million people thought to have been displaced.
Stocks of food, money and essentials have fast declined and aid groups repeatedly complained of being unable to provide sufficient assistance in Sudan's capital Khartoum, where much of the violence has taken place.
Both the regular army and the RSF have been urged to allow the distribution of humanitarian aid, restore essential services and withdraw forces from hospitals.
The United States and Saudi Arabia, who sponsored the peace talks in Jeddah, said the ceasefire would come into effect on Monday evening.
In a statement, the US State Department acknowledged previous failed attempts at brokering peace in Sudan, but said there was a key difference this time.
"Unlike previous ceasefires, the agreement reached in Jeddah was signed by the parties and will be supported by a US-Saudi and international-supported ceasefire monitoring mechanism," it said, without giving more detail.
Taking to Twitter, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken added: "It is past time to silence the guns and allow unhindered humanitarian access.
"I implore both sides to uphold this agreement - the eyes of the world are watching."
The war broke out in Khartoum on 15 April following days of tension as members of the RSF were redeployed around the country in a move that the army saw as a threat.
There was also a power struggle between Sudan's regular army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who leads the RSF.
Hundreds of people have been killed in the fighting and the UN has warned of a worsening situation in Africa's third-largest country, where a huge number of people already relied on aid before the conflict.
It has been two weeks since representatives of the warring factions first gathered in the Saudi capital for peace talks.
On 11 May, both sides signed a commitment intended to lay the groundwork for humanitarian assistance in Sudan.
But earlier this week, UN aid chief Martin Griffiths told the AFP news agency there had been "important and egregious" violations of that agreement, which he added fell short of a ceasefire.
Reports of violence across the country remain rife, with strikes reported on Saturday by eyewitnesses in southern Omdurman and northern Bahri, the two cities that lie across the Nile from Khartoum.
An Omdurman resident recalled her house "shaking" early on Saturday as a result of "heavy artillery fire".
"It was terrifying, everyone was lying under their beds," Sanaa Hassan, a 33-year-old living in the al-Salha neighbourhood, told Reuters by phone. "What's happening is a nightmare."
