G7: Ukraine top topic on the last day of the summit

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At their summit in Japan, the G7 positioned themselves: in their attitude towards China and in relation to Ukraine. Important guest: Volodymyr Zelenskyj. By William Yang, Hiroshima.

G7 round with President Zelenskyy: “Solidarity made clear”

Although Ukraine is not one of the G7 member states, Volodymyr Zelenskyy was the focus at the end of the summit in Hiroshima. On the last day of the three-day meeting, the Ukrainian President was a guest of the major democratic industrial nations. Originally only a video link was planned, but then he traveled on board a French government plane to the summit in the Japanese city.

Zelenskyi gave a speech in Hiroshima Memorial Park, which commemorates the victims of the US atomic bombing in August 1945. Instead of wearing a suit and tie like the other heads of state and government present, he appeared in a black shirt. It is an important signal for the world to hear from this place the “call for unity” of the Ukrainian people, from a city that was rebuilt after being completely destroyed at the end of World War II.

In his haunting speech in Ukrainian, he called on everyone in the world to ensure that only a shadow remains of war, a topic for “museums”. Zelenskyy thanked Japan for raising Ukrainian flags in Hiroshima. As long as his country's flag exists, there is hope.

Summit guest Selenskyj and host Kishida: “Ruf by unit” of the Ukrainian population

Zelenskyy's call for continued support for Ukraine met with a positive echo at the summit: US President Joe Biden announced an additional military aid package worth 375 million dollars (347 million euros) for Ukraine. Other G7 leaders also announced further support for the war-torn country.

No winner in a nuclear war

At the end of the summit, the host, Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, said it was “significant” that the G7 had shown their solidarity by inviting Zelenskyy. He again emphasized the symbolic importance of the summit location Hiroshima, the conclusion of which took place in the open air in front of the Peace Monument. The building with the significant “Atomic Bomb Dome” was the only one here at the immediate site of the atomic explosion that withstood the pressure, heat waves and radiation of August 6, 1945. In the face of the devastating destruction of Hiroshima nearly 78 years ago and repeated threats from Moscow, Kishida made it clear that “there is no winner in a nuclear war” and that a nuclear war “should never be fought”.

As one of the few Asian countries that has stood firmly on Ukraine's side since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression, Japan made the G7 summit “a success in many ways,” according to Asia expert Sari Arho Havren from the University of Helsinki. By inviting Zelenskyy to the summit, Kishida gained support in Japan and increased his country's standing among friendly nations.

Japan's Prime Minister Kishida in the Peace Memorial Park: “A nuclear war must never be waged”

The Japanese would rate the G7 meeting as a “success” for Kishida, says journalist Takehiro Masutomo, who attended the summit in Hiroshima observed. He commended the Japanese PM for giving Volodymyr Zelenskyy the opportunity to meet world leaders who may pave the way for talks between the governments in Kiev and Moscow.

Meetings on the sidelines of the summit are becoming more important

In this context, summit observers were eagerly awaiting how Zelenskyi's personal meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was also a guest in Hiroshima, would go. India has been reluctant to condemn the Russian invasion. The ongoing economic relations between the South Asian country and Russia are also viewed critically internationally.

However, in his meeting with Zelenskyy on Saturday, Modi pledged that India would do everything in its power to help end the conflict. The Indian Prime Minister said the war has had many effects on the world. It's not just a question of economics or politics, but “a question of humanity,” said Modi.

Modi's willingness to meet with Zelenskyy shows that India may be reconsidering its stance on the matter, says political scientist Ian Chong of the National University of Singapore. The meeting of the two would also show the leadership in Beijing that China is not the “only option on the table” for Ukraine and Russia.

Interlocutors Modi and Zelenskyy: “A question of humanity”

In recent months, the Chinese government has repeatedly tried to present itself as a peacemaker in the war in Ukraine. In February, China presented a 12-point plan, and in the months that followed, Chinese leader Xi Jinping met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and held a telephone conversation with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy. However, China's simultaneous “strategic partnership” with Russia casts doubt on its credibility as a mediator for many countries.

The new way of dealing with China

While the issue of Ukraine dominated the Hiroshima summit, the G7 leaders also demonstrated unity towards China. They accuse the leadership in Beijing of increasing militarization and of exerting economic pressure all over the world in order to achieve political goals.

In a communiqué released on Saturday, G7 leaders expressed serious concerns about China's military activities in the South China Sea and East China Sea and called for peaceful solutions to rising cross-strait tensions. At the same time, they expressed their desire to establish “constructive and stable relations” with China.

Chinese warship in the Taiwan Strait (in April): G7 concern about rising tensions

The G7's acknowledgment that the government in Beijing is indispensable for overcoming global challenges “is a positive geostrategic approach” towards China, says Zsuzsa Anna Ferenczy of Dong Hwa University in Taiwan. This will no doubt reassure many countries around the world, Ferenczy said, who fear having to choose sides in an increasingly fierce competition between China and the United States.

G7 communiqué angers China

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In Hiroshima, the G7 states reaffirmed their goal of becoming more economically independent without detaching themselves from China. The summit participants emphasized that their economic policies are not aimed at impeding China's economic progress and development.

However, the G7 countries also promised to meet the challenges arising from “non-market economy policies and practices”. They cited forced technology transfer and China's handling of data as examples – which have distorted the global economy.

China reacted immediately to the G7 communiqué. China's Foreign Ministry called the approach “not internationally credible” and accused the G7 of “interfering with world peace”.

China's angry reaction shows that the G7 communiqué struck a chord in Beijing, says Dexter Roberts by the Atlantic Council's Indo-Pacific Security Initiative. Given that these countries have different interests and economic commitments to China, the coordination and unity reflected in the statements is a “big thing,” Roberts said.

A positive one The Singapore political scientist Chong also sums up the summit: The G7 heads of state and government had hoped to find a common basis for the challenges posed by autocratic states such as China and Russia. And the summit achieved that goal. The question now, according to Chong, is whether the G7 member states will manage to put this consensus into practice.

Adapted from English by Arnd Riekmann