China has countered the Group of Seven's calls on it to participate constructively in the rules-based international system, saying the era of "pseudo-multilateralism" based on the interests of "a small group of countries" is over.

"The days when global decisions were dictated by a small group of countries are long gone," the Chinese Embassy in London said in a statement posted on its website amid a three-day G-7 summit under way in Cornwall, southwestern England, through Sunday.

"There is only one system and one order in the world, that is, the international system with the United Nations at the core and the international order based on international law, not the so-called system and order advocated by a handful of countries," the embassy said.

"There is only one kind of multilateralism, that is, the genuine multilateralism based on the purposes and principles of the U.N. Charter and international law, and featuring equal treatment, cooperation and mutual benefits, not pseudo-multilateralism serving the interests of a small clique or political bloc," it said.

The statement was issued in response to reports that the United States was seizing the opportunity of the G-7 summit to bond with other Western countries and safeguard the rules-based international system.

At a G-7 meeting last month in London, the foreign ministers of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United States, plus the European Union called on China "to participate constructively in the rules-based international system."

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