Asia-PacificAnalysis

G7 analysis: Hiroshima appearance by Zelenskiy prompts message of solidarity with Ukraine

In the background Beijing’s relationship with the US is quietly improving

Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Fumio Kishida, Japan's prime minister, talking in front of the Atomic Bomb Dome on Sunday as they visited Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park following the G7 summit. Photograph: Eugene Hoshiko/AP Photo/Bloomberg

Denis Staunton's face
Denis Staunton China Correspondent
Sun May 21 2023 - 17:33

Fumio Kishida’s coup de théâtre in inviting Volodymyr Zelenskiy to make a surprise appearance in Hiroshima was highly effective in enabling the G7 leaders to make a public demonstration of solidarity with Ukraine.

At a crucial moment in its military campaign against the Russian invasion, Ukraine also received promises of practical help, including a pledge of $375 million in extra military assistance from US president Joe Biden.

But the Japanese prime minister also hoped that Zelenskiy’s presence would help to shift India, Brazil and Indonesia, whose leaders were also in Hiroshima, towards the G7′s position on the war. India’s Narendra Modi told Zelenskiy that he understood his pain and the pain of Ukraine’s people, promising that India “will do whatever we can do” to resolve the conflict.

But Modi gave no indication he was preparing to back Ukraine against Russia or to stop buying Russian oil and weapons, which India has continued to do throughout the war. Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Zelenskiy were unable to meet bilaterally because of scheduling difficulties, according to official accounts.

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According to Brazilian reports of his speech to the G7 leaders and the other guests, including Zelenskiy, Lula condemned the violation of Ukraine’s territorial integrity. But he linked the conflict to weaknesses in the international system, with permanent members the United Nations Security Council waging wars without authorisation, either for territorial expansion or for regime change.

On China the G7 leaders called for “de-risking” rather than “decoupling”, a distinction initially made by the European Union but more recently adopted by the Biden administration. It remains unclear how de-risking will work in practice, and its scope and application will be the subject of an internal EU negotiation in coming weeks.

The leaders also promised to combat China’s “economic coercion”, the weaponisation of economic vulnerabilities in diplomatic disputes, such as Beijing’s blocking of Lithuanian exports after Taiwan opened a representative office in Vilnius. They agreed to establish a “co-ordination platform” to deal with the issue but offered no further details.

China lashed out at the G7 statement, condemning it as a combination of hype and smears, but in the background Beijing’s relationship with the US is quietly improving. Biden predicted a thaw “very shortly”, and Washington is considering lifting sanctions against China’s defence minister to facilitate contacts between the two superpowers’ militaries.

National security adviser Jake Sullivan met China’s top diplomat Wang Yi for 10 hours in Vienna earlier this month and China’s commerce minister Wang Wentao will be in Washington this week.

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