The Japanese leader plans to hold separate meetings with US President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak later today, ahead of Friday’s broader summit.
Leaders of the Group of Seven major industrialized nations are expected to address a number of issues during their 3-day meeting, with the war in Ukraine likely to be high on the agenda.
As the participants headed for Hiroshima, Moscow launched another aerial assault on the Ukrainian capital. Loud explosions rippled through Kyiv in the early morning, marking the ninth time this month that Russian airstrikes have targeted the city after weeks of relative calm.
“The crisis in Ukraine: I’m sure this is where the conversation begins,” said Matthew Goodman, senior vice president of the Center for Economic and International Studies.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Jake Sullivan, the White House national security adviser, said there would be “battlefield talk” in Ukraine and “the opportunity to circumvent the sanctions and measures that the G7 will collectively take on the implementation specifically “particularity”.
G7 leaders and guests from several other countries are also expected to discuss China’s growing ambitions and military buildup as fears grow over its attempt to take control of Taiwan by force, sparking a wider conflict. China claims the self-governing island as part of its territory and regularly sends warships and warplanes nearby.
Security is tight in Hiroshima, with large groups of police stationed at many points around the city. The number of police officers far outnumbered the protesters who gathered next to the ruins of the Atomic Peace Dome memorial on Wednesday evening, holding signs including one reading “No to the imperialist G7 summit!”
In a diplomatic duel, Chinese President Xi Jinping is hosting the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan for a two-day summit in Xi’an, China, starting Thursday.
Kishida also hopes to highlight the dangers of nuclear proliferation at the Hiroshima meeting. Leaders are expected to visit a memorial park to commemorate the 1945 US atomic bomb that destroyed the city and killed 140,000 people.
The possibility of another nuclear attack has been shaped by North Korea’s impending nuclear program, a series of recent missile tests and Russia’s threats to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine. Meanwhile, China is rapidly expanding its nuclear arsenal.
Leaders will also likely discuss efforts to strengthen the global economy and tackle rising prices that are squeezing households and government budgets around the world, especially in developing countries in Africa, Asia and the United States. ‘Latin America.
The debate over raising the debt ceiling in the United States, the world’s largest economy, overshadows the talks. Biden plans to return to Washington soon after the summit for debt talks and to cancel scheduled meetings in Papua New Guinea and Australia.
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