G-7 Invites Developing Nations and Worries over China and Russia

This week, Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has invited 8 countries to join the Group of Seven wealthy democracies at a summit in Hiroshima. These countries are South Korea, Australia, India, Brazil, Vietnam, Indonesia, Comoros and the Cook Islands. The purpose of this gathering is to work together and come up with solutions to some of the world’s most serious issues.

Japan’s Prime Minister Kishida wants to make friends with countries like the United States and other developing nations. He also wishes to work towards a nuclear-free world, even if North Korea and Russia are threatening it. The leaders of rich countries will be hosting guest countries which will help them challenge China’s aggressiveness and take action against Russia for invading Ukraine.

The leaders from the G-7 nations including the United States, Japan, UK, France, Germany, Canada, Italy and the EU had a special meeting in Nagano which Japan hosted last month. During this meeting, they were trying to make a common agreement on how to handle China’s threats towards Taiwan and Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Leif-Eric Easley, a professor from Seoul’s Ewha University, stated that the G-7 countries have an important responsibility to stand up and protect Ukraine against Russia’s invasion since most of the G-7 are located in Europe.

Japan, which is considered the leader of G-7 in the Asian region, wants to change the international system so that it’s better able to deal with China’s growth. The Hiroshima summit was called by Japan and involved 8 nations who have complicated relationships with both China and Russia.

India is a part of the Quad, which is an alliance between four countries including India, United States, Japan and Australia. China has described this group as something similar to ‘Asian NATO’. When it comes to the war between Russia and Ukraine, India hasn’t voted on U.N. resolutions against Russia but has said that diplomatic talks should be held for ending the conflict. Additionally, India has increased its oil imports from Russia.

Brazil is part of a group of developing countries called BRICS, which also includes China, Russia, and India. Brazilian President Lula da Silva recently visited China in an effort to build stronger relationships with them since they’re Brazil’s biggest trading partner. Additionally, he caused some people in the West – including Ukraine – to get upset when he suggested that the war with Crimea could be ended by returning it to Ukraine.

It’s important to Japan that it has a good relationship with Vietnam because of their similar disputes with China. Kim Yeol Soo, someone who works at the Korea Institute for Military Affairs, said this. Japanese Foreign Minister Kishida said he invited some important countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America to show that Japan respects the ‘ Global South’ nations – which means developing countries in those areas.

The economic activity of the G-7 countries make up around 40% of the world’s total. This number has gone down since the 1970s when it was estimated that G-7 countries held 80% of all global wealth.

Choi Eunmi, a Japan expert from South Korea’s Asan Institute Policy Institute said that law decisions made by U.N are mostly worked out by ‘Global South’ member states, which there are around 190 in total.

Kim, another expert mentioned that Indonesia is important to Japan as it has a lot of resources and financial potential.

India is the leader of G-20 this year. The G-20 helps link together the major countries and minor countries, often referred to as G-7 economies and the Global South. Japan’s Kishida visited India in March and met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and discussed cooperation on problems like energy, food, climate change, health, and development.

Japan’s Foreign Ministry said that the G-7 nations should work together with all other countries to solve these major issues.

Japan has invited South Korea over to talk about their friendship in regards to the United States, since they both are neighbours and have a shared threat from North Korea’s nuclear weapons. The two leaders, Kishida and President Yeol of South Korea, have been talking about improving ties between both countries and even looking past anything bad that happened during Japan’s rule over Korea in the past.

The Japanese government praised Yoon for trying to bring peace and prosperity to the region, like making a plan called the Indo-Pacific strategy. When Kishida meets Yoon and US President Joe Biden at the G-7 summit, they will discuss 3 important topics: North Korea’s nuclear program, China’s increasing power, and the war between Russia and Ukraine.

Australia is a close partner of the United States and also works very closely with Japan. They share the same aim of making sure people in the Indo-Pacific region have their freedom and safety, so much so that Japan calls Australia a ‘special strategic partner’.

Last year, Japan and another country came together to sign a security agreement. This agreement was to help protect each other against the bad things that China could do. It is special because it’s the only one of its kind that Japan has signed with any country except the US. Some of these guest countries even lead different types of groups.

Next year Brazil will be the president of the G-20, which is a group of countries that work together. Indonesia is responsible for leading the Southeast Asian Nations, Comoros will lead the African Union and Cook Islands will chair the Pacific Islands Forum.

Japan has invited the Cook Islands to strengthen their security and economic relationship. This move is seen as Japan’s way of showing its respect to other Pacific countries who are worried about radiation from a nuclear plant that was destroyed during a tsunami in 2011.

Kishida is from Hiroshima which was one of the two Japanese cities bombed by the U.S. with atomic bombs during World War II. The summit will take place in Kishida’s hometown so that he can share his wish for a world without nuclear weapons.

It would be difficult for Japan to not invite South Korea to the summit, as North Korea has missiles aimed at the United States and South Korea faces this same threat on its doorstep.

Kim was telling the news from Seoul, South Korea. If you would like to learn more about what’s going on in Asia and the Pacific region, visit https://bigbignews.net/asia-pacific for more information!