Japan and France agree to join forces for the success of the G7 summit

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and French President Emmanuel Macron agreed to work together to achieve a successful G7 summit in Hiroshima later this year.

During their talks in Paris, Kishida and Macron also confirmed the need for the G7 to maintain strict sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine from February 2022 and continue to support kyiv, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said.

Kishida visited France on the first leg of his week-long tour of the G7 countries, which include Italy, Britain, Canada and the United States, to prepare for the May summit in the atomic bomb-ravaged western Japanese city. American in August 1945.

Faced with serious security problems, such as Moscow’s aggression against Ukraine and the intensification of China’s military activities in the Indo-Pacific region, the two leaders decided to hold bilateral security talks involving their foreign and defense ministers. at the beginning of this year.

As a lawmaker representing Hiroshima, Kishida has expressed his desire to present his vision of a world without nuclear weapons at the G7 meeting, amid growing fears that Russia could use a nuclear device against Ukraine.

Among the members of the G7, France is a nuclear power, along with the United States and Great Britain.

Kishida told Macron he will demonstrate the G7’s “firm commitment” to rejecting attempts to change the status quo by force, threats or the use of nuclear weapons, as well as to upholding a free and open international order, a G7 official said. Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

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The official quoted Macron as telling Kishida that he will “collaborate for the success” of the G7 summit.

Seemingly mindful of China’s growing military weight in the region, Kishida and Macron also affirmed the importance of maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.

Tensions between communist China and democratic, self-ruled Taiwan have been on the rise, especially after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the country’s third-ranking official, visited the island in early August.

Concerns are growing that Taiwan could become a focus of military conflict in the Asia-Pacific region, as Beijing regards the island as a renegade province that must be reunified with the mainland, by force if necessary.

China and Taiwan have been governed separately since they broke up in 1949 following a civil war.

Kishida and Macron agreed to further promote joint drills involving the Japan Self-Defense Forces and the French military, which have been held in the East China Sea.

France has a strategic interest in the region, as it has overseas territories in the area, including New Caledonia in the South Pacific. Japan has had a consular office in Nouméa, the capital of the territory, since January. Macron celebrated the opening of the office.