This week’s summit of the Group of Seven wealthy democracies in Hiroshima will include eight other guest nations, part of a complicated, high-stakes diplomatic gambit meant to settle the world’s most serious crises.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has invited South Korea, Australia, India, Brazil, Vietnam, Indonesia, Comoros and the Cook Islands.
Kishida hopes this mix of countries will help efforts to stand up to China’s assertiveness and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to analysts. He also wants stronger ties with US allies and with developing nations and to make progress on working toward a nuclear-free world, something that looks increasingly difficult amid North Korean and Russian nuclear threats. Here’s a look at what to expect as the rich world leaders welcome these guest countries:
PUSHBACK ON CHINA, RUSSIA
As their top diplomats did last month in a meeting in Nagano, Japan, the leaders of the G-7 nations — the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada, Italy and the European Union — will try to form a unified front against Chinese threats to Taiwan and Russia’s war on Ukraine.
“The G-7 is committed to upholding the international order, and most of its members are in Europe, so supporting Ukraine against Russia’s invasion is a top priority,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.
“As the pillar of the G-7 in Asia, Japan is particularly focused on updating the international order to cope with the rise of China,” Easley said. “The Kishida government’s agenda and special invitations for the Hiroshima summit reflect an effort not to contain China but to expand the international coalition defending standards for state behaviour.”
The eight guest nations have complex political and economic ties with China and Russia.
India is part of the Quad group of four Indo-Pacific nation, which also includes the United States, Japan and Australia. China has accused that group of representing an “Asian NATO”. On the Russia-Ukraine war, India has abstained several times from voting on UN resolutions against Moscow, though it has stressed the need for diplomacy on ending the war. It has boosted its imports of Russian oil.Brazil is a member of the so-called BRICS group of developing nations, including China, Russia and India. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva recently visited China to strengthen ties with its biggest trade market. He has also irritated Ukraine and some in the West with his position on the war, recently suggesting that Ukraine cede Crimea to forge peace.
Japan is courting Vietnam because it also has territorial disputes with China, according to Kim Yeol Soo, an expert at South Korea’s Korea Institute for Military Affairs.
GLOBAL SOUTH’ NATIONS
Kishida has said his list of guest nations reflects the importance of the so-called “Global South” countries.
That is a term used for developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The G-7 nations account for about 40 per cent of the world’s economic activity, a decrease from an estimated 80 per cent of global gross domestic product in the 1970s.
