On Friday, G7 leaders visited a museum in Hiroshima that documents the devastation caused by the 1945 US atomic bomb. This event marked the start of a three-day summit.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who chairs the meeting and represents the voters of Hiroshima, has made nuclear disarmament a key item on the summit’s agenda amid Russia’s nuclear blackmail in its war against Ukraine and China’s rapid nuclear buildup.
US President Joe Biden is the second sitting US leader to set foot in Hiroshima. French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the first visits to Hiroshima by their respective leaders.
G7 leaders in Hiroshima on May 19 (photo: english.kyodonews.net)
Japanese Prime Minister Kishida had previously met with Biden and also held talks with Sunak.
“The alliance of Japan and the United States is the basis of peace and security in the Indo-Pacific region. We very much welcome the rapid development of cooperation,” Kishida said in his opening address to Biden, reports The Diplomat.
The American president, in turn, noted that when their countries “stand together, we become stronger.”
The British Prime Minister arrived in Japan earlier on Thursday and visited the JS Izumo, which can carry helicopters and fighter jets capable of taking off and landing vertically.
During a bilateral meeting on Thursday, Sunak and Kishida announced a number of new agreements in a wide range of areas, including defense, clean energy, cybersecurity and semiconductors.
“The Hiroshima Agreement will allow us to intensify cooperation between our armed forces, develop our economies together and develop our excellence in science and technology. This marks an exciting new stage in the thriving UK-Japan partnership,” Sunak said.
Summit agenda
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said there would be “battlefield discussions” in Ukraine and “a provision for sanctions and steps the G-7 will take collectively.”
In addition, G7 leaders and invited guests from several other countries are expected to discuss the situation with China amid growing fears that Beijing may try to attack Taiwan. They will also discuss the subject of North Korea’s nuclear program and a series of recent missile tests.
Thus, during the meeting in Hiroshima, Kishida hopes to draw attention to the risks of nuclear proliferation.
Leaders should discuss efforts to strengthen the global economy and address rising prices around the world, especially in developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
The G-7 includes Japan, the US, the UK, France, Germany, Canada and Italy, as well as the European Union. Numerous other countries were invited to participate in the Hiroshima summit.
2023-05-19 03:57:14
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