Leaders from the G-7 summit and several Asia-Pacific countries, notably India, Indonesia, South Korea, Vietnam and Australia, have gathered in Hiroshima. The focus of this year's summit is the war in the Ukraine, China's growing dominance and the threat to Taiwan, as well as the issues surrounding supply chains, economic and energy security. The G-7 release on clean energy underlined its wish to reduce dependence on China by emphasising the need to “build secure, resilient, affordable and sustainable clean energy supply chains and strong industrial bases that reduce undue strategic dependencies and benefit local workers and communities around the world." The attendance of India, a country that chairs this year’s G-20, is set to shine a light on the Global South, developing world countries that are searching for international recognition and support in terms of issues such as food and health development.
Detente seems to be in the air between China and America according to an opinion piece in Bloomberg. It describes several significant breakthroughs in meetings between Chinese and American officials, a far cry from the frosty silence of recent times. Perhaps most poignantly, President Joe Biden’s National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan recently gave a speech at The Brookings Institute where he appeared to be intent on making Cold War II less chilly. Moreover, the opinion piece argues that the Chinese economy may not live up to its great expectations, showing some signs of headwinds with China’s dire demographic prospects and over-leveraged and depressed real estate sector.
The G7 summit in Hiroshima has ended with discussions focusing on the Ukrainian war and the dominance of China. They also focused on challenges facing developing economies, including Brazil, Vietnam, Comoros and India. Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy made headlines during his time the summit. He was present in the session on Ukraine where it was revealed he had spoken with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. His itinerary for the rest of the day included visiting the Peace Memorial Park and the museum in Hiroshima to remember the atomic bombing of the city. Zelenskyy continues to make the rounds of G-7 leaders. Earlier on the second day of the summit, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi met the president on the margins of the summit for the first time since Russia's invasion of the Ukraine and shared images of their encounter to his Twitter page.
The final day of the Group of Seven (G7) summit has passed in Hiroshima, with delegates including Ukraine's President Volodomyr Zelenskyy discussing the war, China’s dominance and the issues faced by the Global South. Joining the leaders were a number of key Asia-Pacific figures such as the Indian, South Korean, Indonesian and Australian prime ministers. The triennial met throughout the summit, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took some time off to visit Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park and Museum. President Joe Biden met with Zelenskyy, Ukrainian Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister for talks. The G7 laid out a common de-risking path on China, while India's Narendra Modi commented that he would “amplify concerns of the Global South” at the summit.
A leading campaigner for nuclear disarmament, Setsuko Thurlow, has condemned the Group of Seven nations’ summit as a "huge failure" after the leaders released a statement backing existing nonproliferation policy. The three-day Japanese conference was designed by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to support a "world without nuclear weapons." Thurlow, who supports the nuclear-ban treaty, said the statement was "blasphemy against atomic bomb survivors." In the document, the leaders, including nuclear states such as the US, France and Britain, promised to "maintain and create a global environment in which all countries fully observe relevant international law" but did not outline specific new ideas for disarmament. The statement was issued on the same day as the G7 leaders visited Hiroshima’s Peace Park and the museum. Thurlow was 13 when an atomic bomb destroyed her home city of Hiroshima in 1945, and eight of her relatives were killed. She has since given over 2,000 speeches promoting disarmament and has supported the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.
The Ukraine conflict was at the forefront of G7 meetings in Hiroshima, Japan, over the weekend. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was among the invitees to the meetings, which discussed China's growing dominance and issues affecting the so-called "Global South." Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed the need for a "resilient and diversified" approach to supply chains, while UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak commented on the summit's significance for consolidating peace. Meanwhile, Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida called for the issue of nuclear weapons to be discussed openly, and said it was "historically significant" for the G7 leaders visiting the Peace Memorial Museum to publish a focus on nuclear disarmament – known as the Hiroshima Vision. The G7 summit heralded a number of warm bilateral meetings, concluding with talks between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on the conflict on Sunday afternoon.
Iran's Foreign Ministry has summoned Switzerland's ambassador and demanded that the country "correct" a tweet condemning the recent execution of three anti-government protesters in Iran. The Swiss embassy had posted a tweet calling on Iran to “‘take steps to reduce” the use of the death penalty. Iran's foreign ministry called the act "unconventional and unprofessional" in a statement, citing the use of the wrong flag in a photo included in the tweet. Switzerland is one of the few countries with diplomatic relations with Iran, which does not recognise Israel, the US or many Western European countries.
The success of Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the country's recent presidential election has challenged conventional political wisdom that under-performing incumbents will always "face electoral nemesis." Erdogan and other leaders, including Russia's Vladimir Putin and India's Narendra Modi, have appealed to citizens who feel threatened by the changes to the economy, technology and social mores that have accompanied globalisation, and who long for the stability and glory of the past, according to Bloomberg Opinion's Pankaj Mishra.
In a recent article for The Guardian, travel editor Lee Tulloch describes how she lost her passport on a trip to New Zealand but returned to Australia without it by ensuring her identity was confirmed by phone by the Border Force, as well as using credit identity fraud prevention tools. Although she had to fly back to New Zealand to retrieve her passport, she stated the ease of her travel back to Australia without documentation and noted the help received from police and government officials keen to see the return of the passport also.
Passengers left without passports and finding themselves in foreign countries can apply for an "undocumented uplift", which allows them to travel without the correct documentation by producing other identification, such as a driver's licence or medicare card. An Australian journalist who lost his travelling document in Auckland discovered this option. However, he opted to gamble that his passport would turn up, waited for a week and then headed to the airport early, armed with the email the Auckland Airport Police sent him saying his passport had been found, so he could explain his situation.
