Nearly 78 years after being razed by the first American nuclear bomb, the city of Hiroshima in Japan welcomes the G7. After the first discussions and a tribute to the victims of the bomb yesterday, the leaders of the G7 began this Saturday the bulk of the discussions, and Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in the middle of the afternoon. 20 minutes sums up the diplomatic day for you.
Zelensky guest of honor
The Ukrainian president, after a tour of Europe and participation in the Arab League, landed in Hiroshima around 3:30 p.m. local time, on board a plane from the French Republic, loaned for the occasion. As soon as he arrived, he tweeted that this G7 should make it possible to “get closer” to peace, while the United States gave the green light for deliveries of F-16s.
Volodymyr Zelensky is due to meet several G7 leaders on Sunday, starting with an “impatient” Joe Biden. But also with non-aligned emerging powers, such as Brazil and especially India, which has close military ties with Russia and has refused to condemn its invasion of Ukraine.
China, the big file
The other dominant of this day of the G7 was the relationship of the group of States with China. It was first necessary to tune the violins, between countries like the United States, which have a firmer position, against a backdrop of growing tensions with China, and others, on the European side, who insist on avoiding any climate of “confrontation” with the Asian giant. The final communiqué is at the crossroads of these two tendencies. “We are ready to build constructive and stable relations with China,” the Heads of State affirmed.
“It is necessary to cooperate with China, given its role in the international community and the size of its economy, on global challenges as well as in areas of common interest”, estimated the G7, calling for dialogue “there including in international forums, on topics such as the climate and biodiversity crisis”. Always in the direction of peace, the G7 wishes to see China “pressurize Russia so that it ceases its military aggression and immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraws its troops from Ukraine”.
But the G7 countries have also reaffirmed their “opposition” to any Chinese “militarization” in the Asia-Pacific, assuring that there is “no legal basis” for the country’s “expansive maritime claims” in the South China Sea. South. On Taiwan, they reiterated their call for “a peaceful resolution” of disputes with Beijing, which considers this island as one of its provinces without having yet succeeded in reuniting it with the rest of its territory since the end of the civil war. Chinese in 1949.
Tunisia, AI, minor topics but not forgotten
Behind this common discourse, each country also arrives at the G7 with its own agenda. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called on the International Monetary Fund to adopt a “pragmatic” approach to release funding to Tunisia without preconditions. “Tunisia is in a very difficult situation, with obvious political fragility and facing the risk of imminent default,” she said during a session with the other leaders of the seven main industrialized democracies. Nationalist leader of the European country closest to Tunisia by sea, Giorgia Meloni fears that a collapse of the Tunisian economy could cause the departure of migrants to explode.
The G7 leaders also announced the creation of a future “working group” on artificial intelligence, to lead discussions on the “responsible use” of these tools and the risks they pose, including “disinformation “. “We instruct relevant ministers to establish the Hiroshima process on AI, through a working group built in cooperation with international organizations, for discussions on generative AI by the end of the year. end of the year,” according to the G7 statement.