TOKYO, May 18 (Reuters) – US President Joe Biden and Japan’s Fumio Kishida met on Thursday for talks in the deeply symbolic city of Hiroshima, aiming for closer cooperation in the face of a rising China and an unpredictable Russia they see as a threat to the post. -war order.
The two met ahead of a three-day Group of Seven (G7) summit starting Friday in Hiroshima, the first city to be razed to the ground by a nuclear bomb.
Members of the G7, which includes Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Canada, are increasingly concerned about what they see as China’s economically coercive policies and rapid accumulation of sensitive technology – as well as repeated threats from Russia on the use of nuclear weapons. arms.
But tackling those issues head-on is not so easy, G7 member state officials have privately said, especially given the West’s massive dependence on China, the world’s second-largest economy, as a trading partner and in some cases as a production partner. base.
“The international community is at a crossroads in history,” Prime Minister Kishida told a briefing after his more than hour-long meeting with Biden.
The summit would be an opportunity for G7 members to show the world their commitment to “a free and open international order based on the rule of law,” Kishida said, using language that appeared to be aimed at both Russia and China.
Although Japan has long been buying Russian oil, it has been instrumental in the G7 sanctions against Moscow following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. That military action has also sparked fears among Japanese that China could be encouraged to take action against neighboring self-governed Taiwan, unless Russia is stopped.
SHARPEN THE SANCTIONS
The G7 will aim to tighten sanctions against Russia to prevent it from circumventing measures already in place, Germany’s leader, Olaf Scholz, said on Thursday.
The US will have a package of sanctions associated with a G7 statement that will focus on such an issue of Russian sanctions enforcement, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters aboard Air Force One.
Kishida later said he and Biden had agreed to continue “strict sanctions against Russia and strong support for Ukraine.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will join a G7 session via conference call on Sunday, Kishida said. There was some speculation that he would travel to Hiroshima, but Kishida said that while he was aware of such talks, the schedule “is as announced”.
Kishida and Biden also shared their understanding of the importance of protecting strategic technologies, a Japanese government spokesman said.
Earlier on Thursday, Kishida met with the heads of some of the world’s top chip companies, asking them to invest more in Japan and be a clear sign of the growing security importance of advanced technology and supply chains at the G7.
Kishida told executives, including those from Micron Technology Inc (MU.O), Intel Corp (INTC.O) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) (2330.TW), that stabilizing supply chains would be a topic of discussion.
“I am very pleased with your positive attitude towards investment in Japan and would like to see the government as a whole work to further expand direct investment in Japan and support the semiconductor industry,” Kishida said.
An Industry Ministry official later said that Kishida wanted to promote cooperation to strengthen semiconductor supply chains, while Industry Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said Japan would spend 1.3 trillion yen ($9.63 billion) of the supplementary budget last year. fiscal year to support its chip business.
Reporting by Kantaro Komiya Edited by Chang-Ran Kim