PARIS — Japan's efforts to highlight concerns of a global deflation and the impact of a cheap Chinese currency on the global economy fell flat at the meeting of Group of Seven financial chiefs.

In the face of the far bigger and more immediate concern of a potential war in Iraq and its impact on the fragile global economy, the Japanese pitch apparently received little attention from Japan's G7 partners.

Japanese Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa admitted after the two-day G7 meeting Saturday that the proposal to address signs of persistent price falls on a global scale did not arouse interest among the top G7 financial officials.