The leaders of the G7 countries arrived on Thursday (May 18th) in the Japanese city of Hiroshima, a symbol of peace, to discuss the strengthening of sanctions against Russia and protective measures against China's "economic coercion".

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will welcome the leaders of the six other major industrialized democracies to this city destroyed by an American atomic bomb in 1945 and now home to many monuments for peace.

The leaders of the G7 member countries (the United States, Japan, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Canada) will try to present a united front against Russia and China, but also on other strategic issues where their interests are not always perfectly aligned.

The invasion of Ukraine at the top of the discussions

The invasion of Ukraine launched by Russia 15 months ago is expected to dominate the agenda. On the sidelines of a meeting with Fumio Kishida, Biden said Thursday that the G7 stands for "shared values, including support for the Ukrainian people defending their sovereign territory and Russia's responsibility for its brutal aggression."

The United States and its allies have stepped up arms shipments to Ukraine, whose President Volodymyr Zelensky is due to attend the summit via video conference.

According to US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, the talks should focus in particular on strengthening sanctions against Moscow that have led to a contraction of the Russian economy in the first quarter of 2023. It is also a question of "how we can avoid the circumvention of sanctions," German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told reporters on Thursday, adding: "I think this issue will be resolved very well, and in a very pragmatic way."

According to an official of the European Union, an organization that participates in the G7, the heads of state and government will also discuss sanctions against the trade in Russian diamonds. "We think we should limit Russian exports in this sector," the official said, declining to give a timetable and adding that it was unlikely that the G7 would reach a final agreement in Japan.

Vladimir Putin's repeated threats to turn the war in Ukraine into a nuclear conflict have been roundly condemned by G7 leaders and are seen by some observers as an attempt to shake the resolve of Europeans and Americans.

The leaders' planned visit to Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park is expected to highlight these threats, where on August 6, 1945, the city was largely destroyed by an American atomic bomb, killing 140,000 people.

Fumio Kishida, whose family is originally from Hiroshima and who is himself elected there, wants to use this summit to encourage his guests, including the United Kingdom, France and the United States, which together possess thousands of nuclear warheads, to commit to transparency on their stockpiles and reduce their arsenals.

Many military and diplomatic leaders, including six former heads of state, also urged nuclear powers on Wednesday to set aside tensions and negotiate arms control measures. But amid heightened tensions with other nuclear powers Russia, North Korea and China, hopes for progress in this area are slim.

Economic protection measures against China

The G7 should also devote a large part of its discussions to China, and in particular to how to protect itself from possible economic blackmail by Beijing, by diversifying production and supply chains, while the Chinese government has shown willingness to use trade barriers.

For Jake Sullivan, G7 leaders should denounce this "economic coercion" and work to overcome transatlantic differences on the position to adopt vis-à-vis China. But European countries, especially France and Germany, are keen to ensure that eliminating risks does not mean severing ties with China, one of the world's largest markets.

It is "not an anti-Chinese G7", insisted the Elysee ahead of the summit, hoping for "a positive message" of cooperation "provided that we negotiate together".

Japan has also invited eight third countries, including major emerging economies such as India and Brazil, to Hiroshima in an attempt to rally some reluctant leaders to oppose Russia's war in Ukraine and Beijing's growing military ambitions.

With AFP

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