The legacy of Hiroshima will always be the atomic bomb that fell on the city on 6 August 1945. This year’s G7 meeting is a new chapter in the city’s history. This was the meeting when Japan took a big step back as an actor in world politics. It is a personal and political victory for Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Personally because Hiroshima is Kishida’s hometown. Hiroshima is the city he is elected from and represents in parliament. Politically, because Japan under Kishida’s rule is one of the main architects behind a new security policy for Asia. A policy that will help determine the global balance of power. CONTROVERSIAL: Not all Japanese are equally supportive of the nation’s new course toward greater responsibility on the world stage. Here, a group demonstrates against the G7 summit in Hiroshima on 19 May. Photo: YUICHI YAMAZAKI / AFP Japan used the G7 to respond to China During the meeting, the G7 countries came together with the EU in the strongest collective criticism of China that they have ever put into words. The G7 countries warned against China’s military buildup in the Pacific. Without directly mentioning Taiwan, they said they will not tolerate anyone using force to change the current political situation in the Asia-Pacific region by force. China reserves the right to reunify Taiwan with the mainland by force. The G7 also criticized China’s nuclear buildup and lack of transparency about the modernization of its nuclear weapons. Again without mentioning China by name, the G7 said it will never allow any country to use manufacturing and industrial supply chains as weapons. The latter is a signal whether they will move production out of China. The West will make itself less dependent on China and less vulnerable. This particularly applies to advanced technology and infrastructure. HOLY: The leaders of the G7 countries led by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visit the island of Miyajima. The leaders are depicted in front of a so-called torii gate, which marks the transition from the ordinary to the sacred. Photo: Kenny Holston / AP China sees that Japan has more will for power A clear signal that Japan is one of the architects of the G7’s response to China’s growing power and ambitions came from China itself. Before the G7 in Hiroshima, much of China’s criticism of the G7 was about the US pushing its allies into an anti-China policy. After the G7 meeting, China warned against Japan’s choice of new direction for itself and its allies in the G7. Japan no longer only follows the United States, but influences the policies of its close supporters. CHINA ON THE HORIZON: A helicopter takes off from China’s aircraft carrier Shandong off the Japanese island of Okinawa in April. Photo: DEFENSE MINISTRY OF JAPAN / Reuters Ukraine and Asia Kishida is among those who have warned that Taiwan could become a new Ukraine. By bringing Zelenskyj to Hiroshima, Fumio Kishida put the most globally divisive conflict of our time at the center of the G7 meeting. Kishida allowed the G7 to be an arena in Hiroshima to bring forward promises of fighter pilot training and Ukraine getting F16 fighter jets. A policy which in its spirit goes well beyond Japan’s pacifist constitution. The constitution itself is a product of Japan’s defeat in World War II and the two atomic bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. This man-made disaster turned the Japanese into a people with a strong aversion to war and rearmament. TRADITIONAL: The spouses and families of the G7 leaders were invited to a performance of Japanese traditional theatre. Photo: AP Changed thinking Many see neighboring China’s growing power as a threat to peace and stability. It is changing the mindset in Japan. Both with politicians and people. The new policy of curbing China’s growing influence and keeping the Indian and Pacific Oceans “free and open” are slogans and a line crafted by Kishida’s political mentor, Shinzo Abe. MARKANT: Japan’s long-serving Prime Minister Shinzo Abe set a new course for the country. Abe was killed in an assassination attempt last summer, just a few years after he stepped down as prime minister due to health problems. Photo: Franck Robichon / AP Willingness to put power behind that policy is again a sign that Japan is about to change course in its defense and security policy. A difficult and demanding debate in Japan. The G7 meeting in Hiroshima took the country a step further in that direction.
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Japan is back in world politics – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
