The G7’s top diplomats arrived in the Japanese resort town of Karuizawa Sunday for talks set to be dominated by twin crises: China’s growing pressure on Taiwan, and Russia’s war in Ukraine.
There will be no shortage of diplomatic and security challenges to discuss for the foreign ministers, but recent regional events are likely to sharpen the focus on Asia.
The meeting comes days after China concluded major military drills around self-ruled Taiwan, and with Beijing barring ships from an area north of the island on Sunday.
On Thursday, North Korea launched what it said was a new solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile — the latest in a stepped-up barrage of tests that have rattled nerves.
Host Japan is keen to ensure regional challenges top the agenda, and will emphasise its belief that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine heightens the need for vigilance in Asia.
Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, whose government has revamped defence policy and spending in the face of growing Chinese power, has repeatedly warned that “Ukraine today could be East Asia tomorrow”.
“Japan’s basic position… on Ukraine is that the security of Europe and that of the Indo-Pacific cannot be discussed separately,” a Japanese government official said ahead of the talks.
“They are intertwined with each other.”
The G7 has regularly warned China against attempts to seize Taiwan, and individual members have sounded the alarm in recent days.
“A military escalation in the Taiwan Strait… would be a horror scenario for the entire world,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Friday in Beijing
