Category Archives: G7

Australia, India, Japan and US take thinly veiled swipe at China

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Beijing clearly target of joint statement by Quad group calling for ‘stability in Indo-Pacific maritime domain’

The leaders of the Quad group – Australia, India, Japan and the United States – delivered a thinly veiled swipe at Beijing’s behaviour on Saturday at a summit in Hiroshima.

The US president, Joe Biden, and his three partners in the group did not mention China by name but the communist superpower was clearly the target of language in a joint statement calling for “peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific maritime domain”.

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Joe Biden apologises to Anthony Albanese after cancelling Sydney Quad meeting at last minute

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US president and Australian prime minister launch joint initiative to accelerate transition to clean energy

The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has met the US president, Joe Biden, on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Japan and signed an agreement to advance climate and clean energy action.

Albanese is holding a round of key talks at the G7 summit as some of the world’s most powerful leaders convene, with a rescheduled Quad meeting on the agenda.

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PM holds meetings with world leaders on second day of G7 summit in Hiroshima – as it happened

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Australian prime minister meets with US president Joe Biden and António Guterres, secretary general of UN – this blog is now closed

It’s been a big week for Australia’s relationship with China.

The trade minister, Don Farrell, made his first visit to Beijing, where he met with China’s commerce minister.

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Sunak to urge G7 support for collective action against ‘economic coercion’

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Leaders expected to form council that will discuss response if states such as Russia and China boycott trade for political reasons

The UK and other G7 countries are planning collective action against Russia and China if they threaten trade boycotts for political reasons, announcing a new body to deal with “economic coercion”.

Rishi Sunak will urge “bold and pragmatic collective action” against hostile states that stop trading with other countries when they disagree with their geopolitical decisions.

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Rishi Sunak says he is ‘crystal clear’ that he wants to reduce immigration – UK politics live

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Latest updates: prime minister says he wants level of net immigration to fall below the 500,000 it was when he took over

It is a topic Rishi Sunak would no doubt prefer to avoid: the record-breaking jump in net immigration – soon to be revealed in official figures – which is already causing increasingly fractious rows within his cabinet.

Even a trip to the G7 summit in Japan was not far enough, with reporters on the flight asking directly whether the prime minister intended to stick to Boris Johnson’s 2019 manifesto pledge to bring net immigration down.

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Hungary steps up threat to block EU weapons aid for Ukraine

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Foreign minister’s comments at odds with unity G7 nations want to project at summit in Hiroshima

Hungary has stepped up threats to block further EU funds for weapons to aid Ukraine, marring a show of unity from western nations at the G7 summit.

The Hungarian foreign minister, Péter Szijjártó, has said his government will block a further €500m from the European peace facility, a fund used to reimburse EU member states that supply military aid to Ukraine, unless Kyiv removes Hungary’s OTP Bank from its list of war sponsors.

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G7 prepares new Russia sanctions as Zelenskiy to attend summit in person

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Ukrainian president to take part in Hiroshima talks on Sunday as leaders target exports to Russia

The G7 has unveiled further sanctions targeting Russia over its war against Ukraine, as Volodymyr Zelenskiy prepared to attend the Hiroshima summit in person.

“Our support for Ukraine will not waver,” the G7 leaders said in a statement on Friday, vowing “to stand together against Russia’s illegal, unjustifiable, and unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine”.

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PM announces new sanctions – as it happened

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Biden’s cancellation not a snub, Marles insists

The media is still trying to get the Albanese government to admit it feels bruised after Joe Biden cancelled his Australian visit for the Quad leaders meeting.

You’ve got a leader of a country who is dealing with an urgent issue in terms of their domestic politics. It’s unfortunate. But it happens. It’s nothing more than that.

It says a lot about Australia’s standing in the world right now. It says a lot, I think particularly about our relationship with Japan, actually, given that they’re the hosts of this.

We wish to express our thanks to God and all who have continued to pray for us.

We express our relief that Dr Elliott is free and thank the Australian Government and all who have been involved over time to secure his release. We also continue to pray for those still held and wish them freedom and safe return to their loved ones.

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Albanese urged to take stand against nuclear weapons during G7 summit in Hiroshima

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International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons wants Labor to send a ‘message to the region’ and sign and ratify a treaty to impose a ban on atomic weapons

Anthony Albanese is being urged to take a firm stand against nuclear weapons when he attends the G7 summit in Hiroshima this weekend.

The prime minister has been invited to attend the summit in Hiroshima, which along with Nagasaki was devastated by the US atomic bombing in the closing stages of the second world war.

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US risks rift with European allies over hesitancy to supply F-16s to Ukraine

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UK and Netherlands want to create ‘international coalition’ to procure US-made fighter jets and train Ukrainian pilots and crews

Washington risks opening a rift with European allies over its reluctance to contemplate supplying F-16 fighters to Ukraine, with the issue likely to crop up at the forthcoming G7 summit in Japan.

This week, after Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s visit to Europe, the UK and the Netherlands said they would create an “international coalition” to procure the US-made F-16s and train Ukrainian pilots and crews.

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Rishi Sunak arrives in Japan to announce defence pact

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PM also says Japanese businesses have invested £18bn in UK as he visits country for G7 summit

Rishi Sunak has arrived in Tokyo to announce a new defence partnership with Japan and support £18bn of private business deals, ahead of the G7 summit aimed at addressing the threats of Russia and China.

Before the gathering of world leaders in Hiroshima on Friday, Sunak is meeting Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, to discuss more defence cooperation in the face of China’s increasing belligerence towards Taiwan.

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As G7 leaders start to arrive, Japan PM prepares push in Hiroshima for nuclear weapons pledge

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Ukraine and China’s Taiwan ambitions are expected to dominate summit discussions, but Fumio Kishida will have a powerful backdrop

The war in Ukraine and Chinese aggression towards Taiwan will dominate G7 discussions this week, but host Fumio Kishida is expected to carve out time to push for a pledge on nuclear weapons when leaders meet in Hiroshima, the first place on Earth targeted by an atomic bomb.

The leaders began to arrive on Thursday, ahead of an expected visit on Saturday to the city’s Peace Memorial Museum, which contains exhibits showing the scale of the tragedy that unfolded after the US dropped a nuclear bomb on the morning of 6 August 1945, killing 140,000 people by the end of the year.

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Rishi Sunak’s upbeat view on economy stokes claims he is out of touch

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On flight to Japan for G7, PM says ‘economic optimism is increasing’ and insists Brexit is working

Rishi Sunak has been accused of being out of touch with ordinary families after claiming the economy was looking up and people’s household incomes were “hugely outperforming” expectations despite the cost of living crisis.

On a flight to Japan for the G7 summit of world leaders, the prime minister said that despite consumers struggling with high inflation and the cost of food and energy, there were “lots of signs that things are moving in the right direction” with the economy.

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Rishi Sunak seeks to build stronger defence with Japan at Tokyo G7

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PM expected to unveil Hiroshima accord at meeting with Japan’s Fumio Kishida amid fears of China’s rising militarisation

Rishi Sunak will seek to build a stronger defence with Japan amid fears of China’s rising militarisation as he travels to Tokyo and Hiroshima for the G7 summit.

The prime minister will be accompanied by his wife, Akshata Murty, on their first official visit since he entered No 10 for the meeting of leaders from the US, France, Germany, Canada, Japan, Italy and the EU.

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Former world leaders urge G7 to get nuclear arms control back on track

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Exclusive: Letter calls on US and Russia to isolate weapons agreements from other disputes

A global array of former world leaders and defence ministers, nuclear experts and diplomats have called on the leaders of G7 countries at their meeting in Hiroshima, Japan, not to let progress on nuclear arms control continue to be the victim of growing geopolitical conflict, including the conflict between the west and Russia over Ukraine.

The Japanese prime minister, Fumio Kishida, who is from Hiroshima, chose the G7 venue to lend seriousness to his personal call to world leaders to at least agree a roadmap to resume nuclear arms control talks.

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Quad summit cancelled after Joe Biden calls off trip to Australia

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Leaders of Japan, India, US and Australia will instead meet on sidelines of the G7 in Hiroshima this weekend

Anthony Albanese has confirmed the Sydney Quad meeting will not go ahead, after US president Joe Biden pulled out of his Australian visit to deal with domestic issues.

Early Wednesday morning Albanese was still hopeful the meeting with the leaders of India and Japan could proceed with a senior representative from the US, but hours later he confirmed the event was off.

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Joe Biden cancels Australian visit amid US domestic debt deadlock

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President had been due to address parliament next week, the first US leader in 10 years to do so, as part of Asia tour

President Joe Biden has cancelled a visit to Australia, the second leg of his upcoming Asia trip, due to the slow-motion crisis building in Washington over the US debt ceiling.

Biden is to attend a three-day summit of G7 leaders that starts on Friday in Hiroshima, Japan, and will return to the US on Sunday.

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DeSantis to meet UK foreign secretary with eye on US presidential bid

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Florida governor lines up four-nation tour in attempt to boost credentials as credible leader on world stage

Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor, is to meet the UK foreign secretary, James Cleverly, in London at the end of the month as he attempts to burnish his credentials as a credible Republican leader capable of operating on a global stage ahead of a widely expected run for US president.

He is to lead a Florida trade delegation on a four-nation tour taking in Japan, South Korea, Israel and the UK.

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UK should not ‘pull the shutters down’ on China, says James Cleverly

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Exclusive: British foreign secretary says failing to engage ‘closely and regularly’ with Beijing would be ‘really counterproductive’

Britain should not “pull the shutters down” on China, as it would be counterproductive to the national interest, the foreign secretary has told the Guardian.

In a warning to Conservative hawks, James Cleverly insisted there was not a binary choice to be made between treating China as either a threat or an opportunity, and said the UK’s approach needed to be more nuanced.

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West prepares for Putin to use ‘whatever tools he’s got left’ in Ukraine

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Officials ready for nuclear threats and cyber-attacks as part of Russian response to predicted counter-offensive

Western leaders are preparing for Vladimir Putin to use “whatever tools he’s got left” including nuclear threats and cyber-attacks in response to an expected Ukrainian counter-offensive against Russia.

British officials at the G7 foreign ministers’ summit in Japan said they were expecting Russia to retaliate and “must be prepared” for extreme tactics as it attempted to hold on to Ukrainian territory.

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