China, Ukraine on top of G7 foreign ministers meeting agenda
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The foreign ministers will have no shortage of diplomatic and security issues to discuss, but recent regional events are probably going to make Asia the center of focus.
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The foreign ministers of the EU, Britain, Japan, US, Germany, France, and Italy pose for a photo at the G7 foreign ministers' meeting in Muenster, Germany, Oct. 3, 2022 (AP)
The G7's senior diplomats gathered in Karuizawa, a resort town in Japan, on Sunday for discussions that are expected to be overshadowed by two crises: so-called "China's increasing pressure on Taiwan" and "Russia's war in Ukraine."
The foreign ministers will have no shortage of diplomatic and security issues to discuss, but recent regional events are probably going to make Asia the center of focus.
This is happening just days after Beijing announced that ships will be banned from sailing in a region north of Taiwan due to the possibility of "falling wreckage".
Last week, China launched its 3-day Operation "United Sharp Sword" where Chinese jets and warships reportedly simulated strikes on Taiwan on the second day of the military drills.
The operation was launched following a meeting between Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-Wen and US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on April 5.
Earlier this month, two-day joint naval exercises were launched by South Korea, the US, and Japan, in what was described by the South Korean Defense Ministry in a statement as an alleged response to the recent missile launches by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).
Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, whose government has revamped defense policy and spending, 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."
"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.
G7 puzzled by Macron
There will be a renewed focus on the grouping's language after recent comments by French President Emmanuel Macron.
Macron made bold and surprising remarks earlier this week after his return from a three-day visit from China with regards to the EU's relationship with the US and Europe's policy on China and its take on the Taiwan issue.
Emmanuel Macron urged Europe to develop more strategic autonomy as a way to avoid the risk of turning EU countries into “vassals” in the event of a global crisis such as a US-China confrontation.
“Strategic autonomy must be the battle of Europe,” the French President told the business daily Les Echos during last week’s visit to China. “We don’t want to depend on others for critical topics,” Macron said in the interview, citing issues such as energy, defense, social media, and artificial intelligence. Similar comments were published by Politico.
In an interview published on Sunday, April 9, French President Emmanuel Macron stated that Europe must not be a "follower" of either the US or China on Taiwan, warning that the EU risks becoming entangled in "crises that aren't ours."
Paris has exerted strained efforts to downplay the reaction, asserting France's views have not changed, and most analysts expect the group to reiterate previous positions warning China against "changing the status quo by force."
Meanwhile, Macron's remarks expose a reality for the group -- Japan, the United States, Britain, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, and the European Union -- said Paul Nadeau, adjunct professor of political science at Temple University's Japan campus.
"Each member of the G7 still wants a bit of autonomy in the way they pursue their relationship with China," he said as quoted by AFP.
"They don't want to overcommit, they want to maintain some freedom of maneuver."
A senior US State Department official said discussions would reflect "collective concern about a number of the actions that China is taking."
"I think there will be a discussion of how we can continue to be fully aligned on a common and concerted approach," he said.
The group is probably going to call for Russia to withdraw and pledge further support for Ukraine.
It already imposed draconian sanctions on Russia, so substantive new measures are not forecasted.
The global rapid developments have put renewed focus on economic security and the need to diversify supply chains.
Tokyo and Washington have warned about "economic coercion", and G7 ministers are expected to agree on measures to combat the issue.
The two-day meeting will also tackle international crises, most notably in Afghanistan and Myanmar.
Nuclear proliferation will also be up for dialogue ahead of the leaders' summit in Hiroshima this May.
Read more: US should bring back their nuclear weapons from abroad: Antonov
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