Global Courant 2023-05-20 13:09:00
G-7 leaders stand together after the family photo.
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Ukrainian Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in Japan on Saturday to attend the Group of Seven (G-7) summit, giving him a rare opportunity to garner support from the world’s wealthy democracies and gauge leaders of the “Global South” who have long ties with Russia. .
The presence of the Ukrainian president at the G-7 summit in Hiroshima, the first city to fall victim to a nuclear attack, also greatly reduced Western concerns about Moscow’s nuclear threat.
G-7 members – the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Canada – are grappling with the enormous challenges posed by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and tensions with China, particularly over Taiwan and the economic security.
Concerned about the disproportionate role China is now playing in supply chains in everything from semiconductors to critical minerals, the G-7 issued a communiqué outlining a common strategy for future relations with the world’s second-largest economy.
“We are not disconnecting or turning inward. At the same time, we recognize that economic resilience requires less risk and diversification,” the statement said.
“A growing China playing by international rules would be of global interest.”
In a separate statement on economic security, G-7 members warned that countries attempting to weaponize trade would face “consequences,” sending a strong signal to Beijing about practices that Washington has long said amount to economic harassment.
The communiqué was issued shortly after the landing of the French government plane that took Zelenskyy to Hiroshima.
Footage from Japanese broadcasters showed the Ukrainian president, dressed in his usual olive-green outfit, stepping onto the tarmac and walking quickly to a waiting car.
Moments later, he tweeted: “Japan. G-7. Important meetings with partners and friends of Ukraine.”
French and European officials said it was critical that Zelenskyy come in person first to the Arab League, which he addressed on Friday, and now to the G-7, where members of the Global South are present, to promote Ukraine’s vision as the victim of an attack by Russia and how he saw a peace settlement in the future.
“We must use all means to commit non-aligned states to the cause of defending Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” a French presidential official told reporters.
Zelenskyy will hold bilateral meetings with G-7 leaders, but significantly also with the leaders of India and Brazil, two countries that have not distanced themselves from Moscow.
He will hold a session with the G-7 on Sunday before a broader session with the Global South participants.
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