Japanese PM aims for nuclear arms pledge during G7 summit in Hiroshima

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The Ukrainian conflict and China will be at the center of focus of discussions held by G7 leaders, who began to arrive on Thursday at the group's summit, held in Japan's Hiroshima.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is expected to address the issue of nuclear weapons and push for including a pledge on the matter in the talks, media outlets reported.

Hiroshima was the first city ever to be targeted by nuclear weapons in 1945 by the United States.

The leaders are scheduled to visit on Saturday the city's Peace Memorial Museum, which showcases the atrocities of the nuclear attack launched by the US, which killed around 140,000 people between the dropping of the bomb and the months following it.

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Remainders of children's possessions - such as ripped school uniforms and lunch boxes - are among the exhibited items, which US President Joe Biden will be observing throughout his tour along with other G7 leaders.

Kishida expressed his desire for “a world without nuclear weapons” ahead of the summit, but critics called him out for making these claims despite Japan refusing to sign a 2021 UN treaty banning the possession and use of nuclear arms, and Tokyo's presence under the United State's nuclear umbrella.

“I believe the first step toward any nuclear disarmament effort is to provide a first-hand experience of the consequences of the atomic bombing and to firmly convey the reality,” Kishida said of the planned visit to the museum.

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UN chief Antonio Guterres called earlier this week on G7 leaders to publicly declare their commitment to not using nuclear weapons under "any circumstances."

“This is the moment in which we must insist on the need of revitalizing disarmament, and especially nuclear disarmament,” Guterres told Japanese media ahead of his visit to Hiroshima.

A Hiroshima nuclear attack survivor considered the meeting to be their final chance to effectively promote the case of disarmament of nuclear powers, especially as leaders of the US, UK, and France would be present.

“I want to see the leaders commit to getting rid of nuclear weapons,” Shigeaki Mori, an 86-year-old survivor, told The Guardian. “I also know it’s very hard to get them to go that far.”

As observers believe that Kishida's aims on nuclear arms are unlikely to happen, US officials stated that the United States will not be pushing for a different agenda during the summit, while senior German diplomats considered that the issue is not a priority for the leaders, but only for Japan.

One aid to French President Emmanuel Macron insisted that the G7 “is not an anti-Chinese" summit, despite Beijing being one of their main topics of discussion, especially vis-a-vis the Taiwan matter.

“[The G7] have to address economic security and how to deal with sensitive technologies,” said Narushige Michishita, a professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo.

“Everything is part of the great power competition that is taking place between the United States and Russia, and the United States and China.”

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Complex issue

A senior US official said on Wednesday that Biden's Japan trip will reveal a unified position of G7 leaders on dealing with China, while taking into consideration that different countries will manage the approach differently.

Attending the Hiroshima summit will show that the United States is able to support Kiev while also being strongly present in the Indo-Pacific region, the official told Reuters.

Asked whether a united stance on China can be expected from the group's leaders, the official replied, "While the G7 is a consensus-driven group, the hosts do play a big role in setting the agenda and the Japanese are very, very concerned with economic security issues writ large, including vis-a-vis China."

"I think that what you can expect is that G7 leaders will make clear that we’re all unified and united behind a common approach grounded in common values. And at the same time, that each G7 country is going to manage its own relationship with China, but that we’re all aligned around the principles that will guide all of our relationships," he added.

The anti-China chip restrictions will be one of the main subjects discussed in the meeting.

"I think you should expect to see general agreement on principles to define the relationships with China coming out of this."