With the G7, Japan reaffirms its desire to become a key international player and wants to bridge the gap between developed countries and countries of the South
The G7 summit in Hiroshima, enhanced by the presence of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, is a considerable diplomatic success for its host country. Japan confirms its desire to play a more active international role. In Tokyo’s eyes, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has become a confrontation between Russian and Chinese autocracies and democracies and concerns a non-aligned global South invited to Hiroshima by a Japan anxious to bring emerging countries closer to the United States and of the European Union.
With our correspondent in Tokyo, Frederic Charles
By inviting the G7 to Hiroshima, his hometown, victim of the first atomic bombardment in history, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida warned that the worst could be repeated, because Russia threatens to use the atomic bomb against Ukraine.
By insisting that Volodymyr Zelensky come to Hiroshima, the head of the Japanese government recalled that what is happening in Ukraine can be repeated in Asia if China decides to invade Taiwan. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has a global character. It is not limited to Europe.
By including at the G7 summit the main leaders of the Global South – notably those of India, Brazil and Indonesia – Fumio Kishida has sought to reduce the gap that has grown between them and the West since the war in Ukraine, to stop dithering between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky.
All eyes in Japan are on the Ukrainian president. The Japanese feel solidarity with Ukraine, because in their region, they face a triple threat: those of China, Russia and North Korea, all equipped with atomic weapons.