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and India to an extended G7 leaders’ meeting, alongside the seven member countries, saying the existing set-up was outdated.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.
In months, Lo Yuet-ping would bid farewell to a centuries-old village he has called home in Hong Kong for more than seven decades. The Cha Kwo Ling village in east Kowloon is filled with small houses built from metal sheets and stones, as well as old granite buildings, contrasting sharply with the high-rise structures that dominate much of the Asian financial hub. Lo, 72, has spent his entire life here and is among an estimated 860 households required to move under a government redevelopment plan. He said he would miss the rich history, unique culture and warm interpersonal kindness that defined life in
AERIAL INCURSIONS: The incidents are a reminder that Russia’s aggressive actions go beyond Ukraine’s borders, Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said Two NATO members on Sunday said that Russian drones violated their airspace, as one reportedly flew into Romania during nighttime attacks on neighboring Ukraine, while another crashed in eastern Latvia the previous day. A drone entered Romanian territory early on Sunday as Moscow struck “civilian targets and port infrastructure” across the Danube in Ukraine, the Romanian Ministry of National Defense said. It added that Bucharest had deployed F-16 warplanes to monitor its airspace and issued text alerts to residents of two eastern regions. It also said investigations were underway of a potential “impact zone” in an uninhabited area along the Romanian-Ukrainian border. There
The governor of Ohio is to send law enforcement and millions of dollars in healthcare resources to the city of Springfield as it faces a surge in temporary Haitian migrants. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine on Tuesday said that he does not oppose the Temporary Protected Status program under which about 15,000 Haitians have arrived in the city of about 59,000 people since 2020, but said the federal government must do more to help affected communities. On Monday, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost directed his office to research legal avenues — including filing a lawsuit — to stop the federal government from sending
Three sisters from Ohio who inherited a dime kept in a bank vault for more than 40 years knew it had some value, but they had no idea just how much until just a few years ago. The extraordinarily rare coin, struck by the US Mint in San Francisco in 1975, could bring more than US$500,000, said Ian Russell, president of GreatCollections, which specializes in currency and is handling an online auction that ends next month. What makes the dime depicting former US president Franklin D. Roosevelt so valuable is a missing “S” mint mark for San Francisco, one of just two
RSS