Towards the end of the Group of Seven (G7) Foreign Ministers’ meeting in the Japanese resort town of Karuizawa on April 18, top diplomats slammed China’s assertiveness and military belligerence regarding its claims to Taiwan. Nonetheless, the Russo-Ukraine conflict took center stage in the G7’s communiqué denouncing Putin’s actions in Ukraine.
The communiqué, put together by the foreign service officials of the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the U.K., as well as the High Representative of the European Union (EU), displayed G7 leaders’ desire to “to uphold and reinforce the free and open international order based on the rule of law.” Moreover, the document would be the template for G7 leaders to abide by for May’s summit in Hiroshima.