2023-05-18 20:34:00
The heads of government of the G-7 will meet this weekend in Hiroshima for the annual summit of the informal group of advanced democratic economies. The leaders will try to close ranks around the Russian aggression against Ukraine, an issue that defines the bloc’s agenda in terms of security, economy and the environment. In addition, the participants – which include the seven member governments, the European Union and eight other invited governments – will also delve into the tensions with China.
On the other hand, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is expected to take advantage of the meeting to push for a commitment to “maintain and strengthen disarmament and non-proliferation efforts towards a world without nuclear weapons” and oppose any atomic threat to international peace and security.
Meanwhile, attendees are expected to visit a park commemorating the 1945 US atomic bombing, which destroyed the city and killed 140,000 people.
Almost all the leaders of the Western coalition arrived in Hiroshima on Thursday, under intense security that included security personnel from all over the country patrolling the streets, while the places planned for the celebration were fenced off to the public and services were suspended. Of transport. The trauma of the two recent attacks against the former and the current prime minister of the country, considered one of the safest in the world, have traumatized the Japanese government.
Among the first to arrive, the American president aboard Air Force One, who greeted the Japanese host, exclaiming: “When our countries stick together, we grow stronger. We uphold shared values, including support for the brave people of UkraineTogether they discussed the growth of their cooperation and the risks posed by Russia, North Korea’s missile tests and Iran’s nuclear program.
The seven main Western economies -United States, Germany, France, United Kingdom, Italy, Japan and Canada-, immersed in the tensions maintained by Washington and Beijing, are in the process of reorienting their relations with China, which worries them so much for his military strategy as well as for his intense maneuvers to control Taiwan.
As pressure from Beijing and Moscow continues to test the US-led multilateral system, this meeting offers an opportunity to renew existing commitments and bolster unity among long-standing allies.
When they last met in June 2022, the leaders raised a number of concerns about Beijing – including its actions in the South and East China Seas and its record on human rights – but also stressed the need to cooperate with this country in “global challenges”, like climate change.
At their congress in April, the Group’s foreign ministers agreed to a much stronger speech, declaring that “they would speak frankly” to Beijing, asking him to “refrain from threats, coercion, intimidation and the use of force” in his vicinity. China has responded angrily to what she called “biased” comments that “rudely interfere” in its affairs.
A free and open Indo-Pacific
As China continues its maritime expansion, the G-7 proclaims that “supports a free and open Indo-Pacific”. Thus, they are aware of the problem of “debt traps”, by which countries incur obligations to obtain the right to use ports and other facilities, for which the bloc “will insist on the urgency of addressing the problems of the vulnerable low- and middle-income countries and will work together to address them.
Curiously, in a diplomatic duel to the G-7, Xi Jinping receives from this Thursday the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, in a two-day summit that takes place in the Chinese city of Xi’an.
Yet as the Hiroshima attendees arrived, Moscow unleashed a new air strike against the Ukrainian capital. Loud explosions thundered across kyiv overnight, marking the ninth time this month that Russian aircraft have bombed the city, after weeks of relative calm.
Over the past sixteen months, the group’s leaders and ministers have collaborated on various aspects of Russia’s war in Ukraine, including agreeing to a price cap for Russian oil sales or plan to rebuild. Lately, they have had frequent consultations about the possibility of creating a court to try the Russian leadership for the crime of aggression.
Even so, Ukraine and its Central and Eastern European allies disagree with certain postulates, since the bloc includes several powers – France, Germany and Italy – that, in their opinion, are too cautious in challenging Moscow.
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