Taiwan and Ukraine Head Agenda for G7 Meeting in Japan

Kyiv Post

Ahead of the high-level meeting, Japan’s Prime Minister has warned that “Ukraine today could be East Asia tomorrow”.

by AFP | April 16, 2023, 9:31 am

This handout photo taken and released on April 15, 2023 by the Japanese Government’s official photographer shows a session of the G7 Ministers' Meeting on Climate, Energy and Environment in Sapporo, Hokkaido prefecture on April 15, 2023. HANDOUT / Japanese Government / AFP

The G7's top diplomats arrive today in the Japanese resort town of Karuizawa 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, 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, just the latest in a stepped-up barrage of tests that have rattled nerves.

As this year’s host, Tokyo is keen to ensure regional challenges are top of the agenda, and will make clear it believes Russia’s invasion of Ukraine only 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 “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.”