Group of Seven (G-7) nations said Monday they would vow at their upcoming meeting to take a tough stance on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, China’s aggression toward Taiwan and North Korea’s missile tests.
Japan is set to host diplomats from its G-7 members, the U.S., the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and the European Union, in Hiroshima during an online summit next month.
The United States is reportedly focused on shoring support for Ukraine and punishment against Russia more than a year after Moscow’s invasion of its neighbor in February 2022.
Japan’s Foreign Minister, Yoshimasa Hayashi, has said the world must “firmly reject unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force, and Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and its threats of the use of nuclear weapons.
Around the one-year mark of Russia’s invasion, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would join the G-7 summit.
The diplomats are also set to also focus on China’s saber-rattling in the Indo-Pacific around its neighbor Taiwan.
China claims the self-governing island of Taiwan, situated just 100 miles off the Chinese coast, as its own territory. In recent months China has undertaken military blockades and exercises around Taiwan, including such actions just last week. Analysts say that China has been watching and waiting to see how Russia fares in its invasion of Ukraine before going forth with an assault against Taiwan.
The G-7 diplomats are further expected to discuss missile testing by North Korea. In 2022, North Korea conducted more than 70 missile launches—a reported record number for one single year—and several dozen more test-firings already this year.
Both Japan and South Korea have recently beefed up their military postures in response to China’s and North Korea’s saber-rattling.
