HIROSHIMA, Japan
G7 leaders meet in Hiroshima this week looking to tighten the screws further on Russia over the Ukraine war and agree a united line on China's growing military and economic power.
The three-day summit of
leading developed democracies will cover everything from energy to Artificial
Intelligence, but a key focus will be targeting those who have helped Moscow
blunt the impact of Western-led sanctions.
The leaders will also chart a
careful course on Beijing, projecting unity in Taiwan and emphasising the need
to "de-risk" crucial supply chains by diversifying away from China,
while also attempting to avoid further inflaming tensions.
Last month's G7 foreign
ministers' meeting, seen as setting the stage for the Hiroshima talks, had a
heavy focus on China, and put Beijing on notice over "militarisation
activities" in the South China Sea.
It also insisted there was
"no change" on Taiwan policy after French President Emmanuel Macron,
following a trip to Beijing last month, said Europe should avoid "crises
that aren't theirs".
Ministers warned Beijing on
everything from its nuclear arsenal to its business practices, and this week's
summit is expected to endorse extracting crucial supply chains from Chinese
influence.
Washington has taken an
aggressive approach, blocking China's access to the most advanced
semiconductors and the equipment to make them, and has convinced Japan and the
Netherlands to follow suit.
But Europe's foreign policy
chief this week warned the bloc needs to "define" and
"recalibrate" its position.
"We seek a multifaceted
approach to our economic relationships with China," European Commission
President Ursula von der Leyen said Monday.
"It is characterised by
de-risking and not decoupling," she added.
She cited specific examples of
Chinese attempts at economic coercion, targeting Lithuania, Japan and
Australia.
"We are most vulnerable
to coercion where dependencies build up. That's why we are taking action,"
she added, calling critical raw materials one area for work.
Europe has already enraged
Beijing by proposing to restrict exports of sensitive tech to eight Chinese
firms suspected of shipping it on to Russia.
And the Hiroshima summit is
expected to push for similar actions to help close gaps in the
sanctions regime G7 countries have imposed on Russia.
The bloc groups Japan,
Britain, the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and the European Union.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr
Zelensky, fresh off a tour of European capitals before an expected spring
offensive, will address the summit by video.
"I expect key issues will
be sanctions compliance and enforcement, especially in non-aligned, Global
South countries, as well as potentially lowering the oil price cap, which
Ukraine is pushing for," said Maria Snegovaya, senior fellow for Russia
and Eurasia at the Centre of Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
An unusually long list of
non-G7 invitees will be present, as Japan tries to expand the bloc's influence
in the developing world, with leaders from India, Brazil and Indonesia among
those taking part.
While the war in Ukraine has
breathed new relevance into the G7, Tokyo and others believe more efforts are
needed to win over major unaligned countries who are reluctant to take sides in
disputes with Moscow and Beijing.
The need is heightened by the
gridlock in the larger Group of 20, where China and Russia have opposed
references to the Ukraine war.
"Japan believes that both China and, to a lesser degree, Russia, are
making inroads with economic assistance and anti-West messaging," said
Chris Johnstone, Japan chair at CSIS.
Other invitees include African
Union chair Comoros, Pacific Island Forum chair the Cook Islands, ASEAN chair
Indonesia, and Vietnam.
Australia and South Korea, with which Japan is quickly patching up long-frayed
ties, will also take part.
The G7 leaders are expected to
issue a statement on disarmament, which Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida
has tried to move up the agenda by hosting the meeting in his constituency of
Hiroshima.
Both G7 leaders and
non-members are likely to visit the Peace Park and museum.
On the sidelines, a US-South
Korea-Japan trilateral will help further cement efforts to rebuild ties between
Tokyo and Seoul.
In a first, Kishida and his
counterpart Yoon Suk Yeol are expected to visit a memorial to Koreans killed in
the atomic bomb attack. - AFP
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