Expectations of the G-7 meeting in Hiroshima

2023-05-17 17:33:02, Kosova & Bota CNA

HIROSHIMA, Japan (AP) - The symbolism will be palpable when the leaders of the world's richest democracies meet in Hiroshima, a city whose name evokes the tragedy of war, to address a host of challenges, including Russian aggression. towards Ukraine and rising tensions in Asia.

The spotlight on the war in Europe comes just days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrapped up a tour of European countries to meet many of the Group of Seven leaders who are now heading to Japan for the high-level meeting that begins Friday. The tour was aimed at boosting arms aid and consolidating political support ahead of an anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive to retake lands seized by Moscow's forces.

"Ukraine has fostered a sense of common purpose" for the G-7, said Matthew P. Goodman, vice president for economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

He said that the new commitments that President Zelenskyy made shortly before the high-level meeting could prompt members of the bloc to increase their support even further.

G-7 leaders are also bracing for the possibility of renewed conflict in Asia as relations with China deteriorate. They are increasingly worried about what they see as Beijing's growing aggressiveness and fear that China may try to occupy Taiwan by force, triggering a wider conflict. China claims the self-governing island as its own and regularly sends ships and warplanes near it.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida also hopes to highlight the dangers of nuclear proliferation during the meeting in Hiroshima, the site of the world's first atomic bombing.

The prospect of another nuclear attack is looming large over North Korea's nuclear program and series of tests, and Russia's threats to use nuclear weapons in its war in Ukraine. Meanwhile, China is rapidly expanding its nuclear arsenal from about 400 warheads today to 1,500 by 2035, according to Pentagon estimates.

Concerns about the strength of the global economy, rising prices and the US debt ceiling crisis will be on the minds of G-7 leaders.

G-7 finance ministers and central bank chiefs pledged ahead of the summit to enforce sanctions against Russia, tackle rising inflation, strengthen financial systems and help highly indebted countries.

The G-7a includes the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada and Italy, as well as the European Union.

The group is also paying more attention to the needs of the Global South - a term to describe mainly developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America - and has invited countries ranging from Brazil, the South American powerhouse to small islands Cook in the South Pacific.

By engaging countries beyond the world's richest industrialized ones, the group hopes to strengthen political and economic ties while supporting efforts to isolate Russia and counter China's assertiveness around the world, analysts say.

"Japan was shocked when many developing countries were reluctant to condemn Russia for its invasion of Ukraine last year," said Mireya Solís, director of the Center for East Asia Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution. "Tokyo believes that this act of war by a permanent member of the UN Security Council is a direct threat to the foundations of the post-war international system.

Broad support from a diverse group of countries for principles such as not changing borders by force advances Japan's foreign policy priorities and is economically important as its problems with high debt and rising food and energy prices are a obstacle to the global economy, Ms. Solis added.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also attend the meeting. His country, which is overtaking China as the world's most populous and sees itself as a rising superpower, will hold a meeting of the G-20 group of major economies later this year.

The Japanese prime minister made a surprise trip to Kiev in March, making him the country's first postwar leader to travel to a war zone, a visit steeped in symbolism given Japan's pacifist constitution, but one that he was under internal pressure to develop it.

Another country to be included in the Hiroshima meetings is South Korea, another US ally that has drawn rapidly closer to its former colonial occupier, Japan, as their relations improve in the face of shared regional security concerns. .

US President Joe Biden is expected to hold a special tripartite meeting with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts.

Sung-Yoon Lee, an East Asia expert at Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, said the meeting sends a message to China, Russia and North Korea of ??"solidarity among democracies in the region and their determination to counter increasingly autocratic threats.”

President Biden was expected to make a historic stop in Papua New Guinea and then travel to Australia after the Hiroshima meeting, but he canceled those last two stops on Tuesday to focus on the debt limit debate in Washington ./ VOA