The G7 in Hiroshima seen from Asia

The question of Taiwan and the “containment” of China, together with the repercussions of the war in Ukraine, are on the agenda of the summit of the most industrialized countries. With an eye on regional balances, India, South Korea, Indonesia and Vietnam are also invited; Meanwhile, China gathers Central Asian countries in Xi’an. The World Food Program warned about food security; For its part, Oxfam denounced that 13.3 billion dollars in interventions in favor of low-income countries were promised and never carried out.

Hiroshima ( / Agencies) – The eyes of the world are on Hiroshima, where the heads of state and government have arrived for the G7 summit, which this year is chaired by Japan. Once again, the issue of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and its global repercussions will dominate the agenda. But in Hiroshima there will also be a lot of talk about Beijing’s threats against Taiwan, as well as initiatives to reduce the economic and supply chain dependency of Western democracies on China, especially in strategic sectors such as semiconductors.

Indeed, the balances in Asia-Pacific will be the subject of the long sessions that have long characterized the G7 meetings: among the invited delegations are those of the governments of South Korea, India, Indonesia and Vietnam. And it is interesting to note that, precisely at the same time as the G7 in Hiroshima, Chinese President Xi Jinping is holding a two-day summit in Xi’an with the leaders of the former Soviet republics of Central Asia: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. An appointment intended to reactivate the Belt and Road Initiative, the great infrastructure development plan that Beijing is pursuing on the path of the so-called “new silk road”.

In light of all this, one highly anticipated event taking place on the sidelines of the G7 is the trilateral meeting scheduled for Sunday between Kishida, US President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol. On the table are the hypotheses of a greater reinforcement of cooperation in the field of security, which in recent months also seems to have given rise to the hypothesis of a reinforcement of nuclear deterrence in Asia. An issue that for Japan, and more so in a place like Hiroshima, cannot fail to raise strong questions. In fact, Prime Minister Kishida has chosen the city of the atomic bomb, where he himself was born, precisely to reinforce his message.

It should also be noted that Kishida and Yoon will pay tribute together in Hiroshima at a memorial for the Korean victims of the atomic bomb. This gesture is part of the ongoing process between the two countries, in an attempt to strengthen cooperation by turning the page on the delicate issue of disputes that arose from Japanese colonial rule over the Korean peninsula in the period between 1910 and 1945. .

Another item on the G7 agenda in Hiroshima will be cooperation with the South of the world. The World Food Program recently issued a warning on the issue of food safety, recalling that 828 million people in the world do not know where their next meal will come from. “Food aid is essential to prevent acute hunger and malnutrition,” the World Food Program wrote, “but it is a short-term fix and comes at a high cost. Food aid must be combined with long-term investment in development and increased sustainable agricultural production.”

A new program will also be discussed that -based on the experience gained in the Covid emergency- would promote the production and purchase of vaccines, as well as investments in low-temperature storage and training of health personnel. But it should also be noted that there are many promises on development that are adopted at these summits and then are not fulfilled: in a report published a few hours ago, the international NGO Oxfam quantified aid and mitigation actions at 13.3 billion dollars of climate change that never reached low-income countries.