The foreign ministers of the Group of Seven, including France, reaffirmed the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, noting that it is “an essential element for the security and prosperity of the international community,” Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters on Monday evening.
The diplomats were in “complete agreement” to seek a peaceful resolution of the cross-strait issue, he said.
The gathering of top diplomats in the birch-lined resort town of Karuizawa came shortly after French President Emmanuel Macron’s recent visit to China, where he stated that Europe should not get “caught up in crises that are not ours” in reference to Taiwan.
Asked about Macron’s statements on Taiwan, Hayashi said that French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna explained that her country is deeply committed to respecting the status quo and maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. Colonna also said France opposes any unilateral change in the status quo by force, Hayashi said.
Colonna noted that Macron also conveyed this message to Chinese President Xi Jinping during the visit, according to Hayashi.
A day after traveling together on a bullet train from Tokyo to Karuizawa and being served locally farmed Shinshu salmon for dinner, the G-7 foreign ministers sat down for business on Monday.
Hayashi and his peers had no shortage of topics to discuss, including the Ukraine war, ties with the Indo-Pacific region, Central Asia and Saturday’s attempted attack on Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
One of the highlights of Monday’s discussions was the agreement to regularize discussions on the Indo-Pacific region, although no specific plans were laid out. However, an official who briefed the media noted that ministers already discuss the topic about once every two months and such discussions take place at the administrative level about once a month.
“It is preferable to continue this way,” the official said.
In the 60-minute session on the Indo-Pacific, the ministers underscored the importance of cooperating with India. According to the Foreign Ministry, each country expressed the need to cooperate with New Delhi, both in terms of its chairmanship of the Group of 20 as well as cooperation with the Global South.
It is rare for a statement of a G-7 meeting to mention a specific country in this way and highlights the rising importance of the now-most populous state in the world.
As part of increasing engagement in the Indo-Pacific region, the ministers also vowed to reach out to the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Pacific Island countries. On the Pacific islands, Hayashi explained that Japan opened diplomatic missions in Kiribati and New Caledonia in January and that he visited Solomon Islands and the Cook Islands in March.
In a later 100-minute session on the Ukraine war, the G-7 ministers affirmed that they remain committed to “intensifying, fully coordinating and enforcing sanctions against Russia, as well as to continuing strong support for Ukraine.”
The ministers underscored that “Russia must withdraw all forces and equipment from Ukraine immediately and unconditionally.”
In addition to condemning President Vladimir Putin’s announcement of his plans to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, the ministers reaffirmed that Russia’s irresponsible nuclear rhetoric was unacceptable, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry.
The G-7 agreed to strengthen coordination in preventing and responding to third-party weapon supply to Russia.
During a working lunch, the ministers deepened consultations in cooperation with the Global South. “It is important to fully consider the individual circumstances of each international partner and, rather than imposing values on them, to demonstrate the significance of a free and open international order based on the rule of law,” Hayashi said.
In an afternoon session, the ministers discussed the need to jointly assist the specific needs of Central Asian nations. The region is traditionally Russia’s stronghold and is more recently the focus of China’s diplomatic efforts. Last month, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang raised the planned inaugural China-Central Asia Summit as one of the two major diplomatic events of 2023.
During a bilateral meeting with Hayashi, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly expressed his solidarity with Japan over the attempted attack on Kishida’s entourage during a campaign speech in Wakayama prefecture on Saturday.
Citing the recently updated Integrated Review published by the U.K. government, Hayashi welcomed London’s support for a free and open Indo-Pacific and its policy to make its engagement to the region a permanent pillar of its international policy.
Hayashi and cleverly would continue to advance the U.K.’s application to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.
The usually peaceful resort town was filled with police gathered from across the country. Security seemed especially tight following the Saturday attack, with the summit venue, the Karuizawa Prince Hotel, shut to the public.
Views: 0
