World leaders landed on Thursday for a Group of Seven meeting in Hiroshima, the site of the world’s first atomic bomb attack, with Russia’s war in Ukraine expected to be high on the agenda.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida kicked off his summit diplomacy by meeting with US President Joe Biden after his arrival at a nearby military base. He was due to hold talks with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak a bit later in the day, before the three-day summit opens on Friday.
The Japan-US alliance is the “very foundation of peace and security in the Indo- Pacific region,” Kishida told Biden in opening remarks.
“We very much welcome that the cooperation has evolved in leaps and bounds,” he said.
“When our countries stand together we stand stronger and I believe the whole world is safer when we do,” Biden said.
The US president exited Air Force One in heavy rain and briefly greeted troops on arrival at the nearby Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni.
As G-7 attendees made their way to Hiroshima, Moscow unleashed yet another aerial attack on the Ukrainian capital.
Loud explosions thundered through Kyiv during the early hours, marking the ninth time this month that Russian air raids have targeted the city after weeks of relative quiet.
“The crisis in Ukraine: I’m sure that’s what the conversation is going to start with,” said Matthew P. Goodman, senior vice president for economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Jake Sullivan, the White House national security adviser, said there will be “discussions about the battlefield” in Ukraine and on the “state of play on sanctions and the steps that the G-7 will collectively commit to on enforcement in particular.”
G-7 leaders and invited guests from several other counties are also expected to discuss how to deal with China’s growing assertiveness and military buildup as concerns rise that it could could try to seize Taiwan by force, sparking a wider conflict. China claims the self-governing island as its own and its ships and warplanes regularly patrol near it.
Security was tight in Hiroshima, with thousands of police deployed at numerous points throughout the city. A small group of protesters was considerably outnumbered by police as they gathered Wednesday evening beside the ruins of the Atomic Peace Dome memorial, holding signs including one which read “No G7 Imperialist Summit!”
