The Group of Seven met from May 19 to May 21 in Hiroshima, Japan this year to address a number of international issues and coordinate global policies with one another.
The G7 summit members are Britain, Canada, The United States, Japan, Italy, France, and Germany, which are the world’s largest and richest democracies. Many of the issues discussed at this year’s summit involved China, Russia, and the war in Ukraine.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks to world leaders about Ukraine’s progress in hopes of re-energizing support from allies.
The Ukrainian president made a brief and impactful visit to Hiroshima to plead his case for his country. He said that they were in need of more weapons in order to keep fighting back against Russia.
Recently, the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut was taken over by Russian forces. It had been under attack for the past ten months, making it the longest and bloodiest battle of the war thus far.
"You have to understand that there is nothing, they destroyed everything," Zelenskyy told G-7 leaders. "For today Bakhmut is only in our hearts."
The United States has supported Ukraine since the beginning of the war, already contributing $37 billion in aid. President Joe Biden has pledged an additional $375 million in weaponry including ammunition and armored vehicles.
Biden also promised to train Ukrainian fighter pilots as well as provide F-16 fighter jets as long as they do not invade Russian territory.
Chinese media unhappy with the summit, declaring it “anti-China”.
This year, the G7 summit singled out China on several issues such as Taiwan, economic coercion, human rights violations, and nuclear weapon development.
The Global Times, a state-owned media organization, ridiculed the summit in an editorial piece called "G7 has descended into an anti-China workshop". Many of the issues brought up by the summit are believed to be Chinese internal affairs and not matters which are up for public debate.
Beijing Foreign Ministry vehemently opposes the statements made by G7. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong called it an attempt "to smear and attack China, grossly interfering in China's internal affairs, violating the basic principles of international law and the spirit of the four political documents between China and Japan," in reference to the China-Japan Joint Statement of 1972.
More sanctions will be brought against Russia.
As a result of the Ukrainian war, Russia has become the most sanctioned country in the world. Most countries around the world have distanced themselves from Russia, some even going as far as freezing the assets of Russian citizens and denying or suspending visas.
Russia used to be a member of the summit, previously known as G8, until 2014 when the country annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region.
The summit’s plans to stop Russia involve providing more support to Ukraine as well as issuing more sanctions against the nation. Russia’s Foreign Ministry spoke out against the summit in a statement, claiming that it was creating anti-China and anti-Russia “hysteria”. The two countries are close allies.
Share This Post On
0 comments
Leave a comment
You need to login to leave a comment. Log-in
