The city of Hiroshima, the first to be targeted by the atomic bomb in 1945, will host the G-7 summit this Friday, in a meeting where world leaders will discuss expanding sanctions against Russia and seek mechanisms to defend themselves against "economic coercion " from China.
The symbolism of the setting is the first message of the meeting. The Japanese Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, originally from Hiroshima and host of the meeting, has chosen his city for the ghosts of nuclear war and the monuments dedicated to peace that inhabit it, and that echo the conflict in Ukraine. However, being in the Pacific is also a hint to Beijing, with a show of unity in an area where the US has focused its diplomatic efforts in recent years.
In addition to the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States, Kishida has invited several leaders from the "global south", including the leaders of Brazil, India and Indonesia, and those of other countries. partners like South Korea and Australia.
The agenda will be dominated by the invasion of Ukraine, as announced by US national security adviser Jake Sullivan, who has assured that political leaders will discuss "the state of the battlefield" and "the expansion and application of the sanctions".
Faced with Putin's repeated threats to turn the war in Ukraine into a nuclear conflict - which have been condemned by the G-7 leaders - the summit that begins on Friday aims to highlight the risks of nuclear proliferation and prevent atomic escalation.
The Group of Seven seeks to increase pressure on Moscow, and one of its main concerns is to prevent Russia from evading the sanctions already applied against it through trade with third countries - especially China. In this sense, the possibility of creating a mechanism for monitoring exchanges of this type is being considered.
Washington is in favor of imposing an almost total ban on exports to Russia, while the European Union suggests banning the sale of dual-use goods to companies from third countries if it is believed that they will end up selling them to Moscow later.
It remains to be seen if it is possible to agree on specific measures or just a dissuasive message towards countries and companies that allow Moscow to mitigate the effect of the sanctions, taking into account that within the G7 there are divergent positions on the subject, starting with Japan, highly dependent on Russian energy imports.
In addition to a joint declaration that includes a new condemnation of Russia, the G7 also wants to show its support for Kiev both in combat and in reconstruction, during meetings in which the Ukrainian president, Volodimir Zelensky, will also participate electronically.
It is expected that the G7 will also pronounce itself in defense of the international order, and that it emphasizes its rejection of "any unilateral attempt to change the 'status quo by force'", an allusion to both Russia and China in the face of the increase in tensions in Taiwan and its military movements in Asia-Pacific.
The final declaration would have to stress the importance of maintaining "peace and stability" in the Taiwan Strait and "serious concern" about Chinese expansionism in the region.
Another part of the debate will be dedicated to agreeing how to diversify its production and supply chains, to protect itself from possible economic blackmail from Beijing. Here, too, there is no unity between the strategies proposed by the countries: for Sullivan, the G7 leaders should denounce this "economic coercion" and strive to overcome the transatlantic differences on the position to adopt vis-à-vis China; while European countries, particularly France and Germany, make it clear that this cannot mean cutting ties with China, one of the world's biggest markets.
It is not "an anti-Chinese G7," the Elysée insisted before the summit, hoping for "a positive message" of cooperation "as long as we negotiate together."
In a consoling diplomatic gesture, Chinese President Xi Jinping will host the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan for a two-day summit in the Chinese city of Xi'an starting Thursday.
The president of the United States, Joe Biden, has landed on Thursday at the US military base in Iwakuni, in Japan, from where he will travel to Hiroshima. There he is awaited by the Japanese Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, with whom he will meet in the early afternoon.
Before arriving in Japan, the head of the White House faced a political crisis over the US debt, which has forced him to cancel the next legs of his tour of Asia-Pacific, Papua New Guinea and Australia.
Before the start of the summit, Kishida will guide his G7 colleagues through the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and Museum, where tributes are paid to the 80,000 people who were immediately killed by the US-launched nuclear bomb. on August 6, 1945 and shows the horrors he inflicted on the victims and the city.
"Conveying the reality of a nuclear attack is an important starting point for all disarmament efforts," said Kishida, who has had a hard time convincing the leaders of nuclear powers such as the United Kingdom and France to agree to this visit, according to the reports. local media.
