Array
Russian threats to nuke Ukraine. China’s belligerent military moves around rival Taiwan. North Korea’s unprecedented run of missile testing.
The top diplomats from some of the world’s most powerful democracies will have plenty to discuss when they gather in the hot spring resort town of Karuizawa on Sunday for the so-called Group of Seven foreign ministers’ meeting.
Some believe that with the weakening of the United Nations, amid Russian and Chinese intransigence on the Security Council, global forums like the G7 are even more important. But there’s also considerable doubt that diplomats from mostly Western democracies can find ways to influence, let alone stop, authoritarian nations that are more and more willing to use violence, or its threat, to pursue their interests.
Besides the global hotspots, foreign ministers from Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada, Italy and the European Union are expected to discuss ways to improve human rights and democracy, and also issues important to poorer nations that may feel underrepresented by the focus on wealthy countries with stable governments.
The agenda will be dominated, however, by worries over Russia, China and North Korea, and an awareness of the unmistakable interconnectedness of these and other foreign policy headaches.
This year’s G7 meetings are the most important in the gathering’s history, given the pressing need to end Russia’s war in Ukraine and to stop a potential invasion of Taiwan by China, according to Yuichi Hosoya, an international politics professor at Keio University in Japan.
With the stakes so high, here is a look at what diplomats will face in talks that end Tuesday:
THE WAR IN UKRAINE
A broad concentration on nuclear issues was always going to be important at this year’s G7 talks, which culminate with the main leaders’ summit next month in Hiroshima, the target of the first nuclear bomb used in war.
The issue is more urgent amid fears that Russian President Vladimir Putin, as he becomes desperate over failures in Ukraine, might use a tactical nuclear weapon to win the war.
