Japan said it opposed changes to the G7 nations as it pushed back against a reform plan by US President Donald Trump that would have rival South Korea this year join in an expanded meeting.
Tokyo has told the US it stands against South Korea’s participation on the grounds of differences in policy on China and North Korea, Kyodo News reported this weekend, citing more than one source related to Japanese and US diplomacy.
Japan also wants to maintain its status as the only Asian country in the group, the news agency added.
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga yesterday told reporters that it was important to maintain the framework of the G7 as it is.
It was up to the US, this year’s host, to decide on arrangements for the next meeting, he added.
The G7 frequently invites other nations to take part as guests.
Japan and South Korea have seen relations deteriorate to their worst levels in years due to renewed disputes arising from Japan’s 1910-1945 colonial rule over the Korean Peninsula. The tensions have clouded trade links and joint security for the two US allies, who both face a threat from North Korea and live in the shadow of China’s growing military.
The South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that it would refrain from commenting on the Kyodo report.
Trump last month said that he was considering inviting Russia, South Korea, Australia and India to an extended G7 leaders’ meeting, alongside the seven member countries, saying the existing set-up was outdated.
Trump said the meeting could be held the weekend before or the weekend after the UN General Assembly, which is scheduled to open — potentially virtually — on Sept. 15 and run through Sept. 30.
“Maybe I’ll do it after the election,” Trump said late last month. “I think a good time would be before the election.”
The US presidential election is on Nov. 3.
A previous plan for an in-person meeting this month was scrapped amid coronavirus concerns. The US already has the most confirmed infections and COVID-19 deaths of any nation and was hit by a renewed surge of cases in the past few days.
The current G7 member countries are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US. Several countries are opposed to the idea of including Russia, which was in 2014 suspended from what was then the G8 major economies after its annexation of Crimea. South Korea is a G20 member.
Far from the violence ravaging Haiti, a market on the border with the Dominican Republic has maintained a welcome degree of normal everyday life. At the Dajabon border gate, a wave of Haitians press forward, eager to shop at the twice-weekly market about 200km from Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince. They are drawn by the market’s offerings — food, clothing, toys and even used appliances — items not always readily available in Haiti. However, with gang violence bad and growing ever worse in Haiti, the Dominican government has reinforced the usual military presence at the border and placed soldiers on alert. While the market continues to
An image of a dancer balancing on the words “China Before Communism” looms over Parisian commuters catching the morning metro, signaling the annual return of Shen Yun, a controversial spectacle of traditional Chinese dance mixed with vehement criticism of Beijing and conservative rhetoric. The Shen Yun Performing Arts company has slipped the beliefs of a spiritual movement called Falun Gong in between its technicolored visuals and leaping dancers since 2006, with advertising for the show so ubiquitous that it has become an Internet meme. Founded in 1992, Falun Gong claims nearly 100 million followers and has been subject to “persistent persecution” in
ONLINE VITRIOL: While Mo Yan faces a lawsuit, bottled water company Nongfu Spring and Tsinghua University are being attacked amid a rise in nationalist fervor At first glance, a Nobel prize winning author, a bottle of green tea and Beijing’s Tsinghua University have little in common, but in recent weeks they have been dubbed by China’s nationalist netizens as the “three new evils” in the fight to defend the country’s valor in cyberspace. Last month, a patriotic blogger called Wu Wanzheng filed a lawsuit against China’s only Nobel prize-winning author, Mo Yan (莫言), accusing him of discrediting the Communist army and glorifying Japanese soldiers in his fictional works set during the Japanese invasion of China. Wu, who posts online under the pseudonym “Truth-Telling Mao Xinghuo,” is seeking
‘SURPRISES’: The militants claim to have successfully tested a missile capable of reaching Mach 8 and vowed to strike ships heading toward the Cape of Good Hope Yemen’s Houthi rebels claim to have a new, hypersonic missile in their arsenal, Russia’s state media reported on Thursday, potentially raising the stakes in their attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and surrounding waterways against the backdrop of Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The report by the state-run RIA Novosti news agency cited an unidentified official, but provided no evidence for the claim. It comes as Moscow maintains an aggressively counter-Western foreign policy amid its grinding war on Ukraine. However, the Houthis have for weeks hinted about “surprises” they plan for the battles at sea to counter the