- Modi supports Dialog when meeting Zelenskyy
- China accuses the G7 of interfering in internal affairs
- Russia says West is aiming for ‘double containment’
HIROSHIMA, Japan, May 20 (Portal) – Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy held talks with India’s Narendra Modi on Saturday and was scheduled to meet other leaders of the “Global South” at a Group of Seven (G7) summit to expand support for his country in his war against Russia.
New sanctions against Russia and measures to resist China’s economic coercion were already agreed at the three-day G7 meeting in the Japanese city of Hiroshima, drawing the wrath of Moscow and a complaint from Beijing to summit guest Japan.
Zelenskyy, flown in from an Arab League summit on a French government jet, wore his usual olive drab uniform, received a warm welcome from G7 leaders and held talks with Modi in a series of meetings with non-aligned countries.
Zelenskiy told news app Telegram that the two discussed Ukraine’s needs in terms of mobile hospitals and landmine clearance, and that he invited India to join Ukraine’s peace formula.
Modi’s Twitter account posted a photo of the two shaking hands, noting that he thanked Zelenskyy for India’s willingness to continue humanitarian aid to the people of Ukraine and its support for “dialogue and diplomacy.” told for peace.
Modi, whose country forms the so-called BRIC group alongside Brazil and China, has not distanced himself from Russia. Its oil deals with Russia are seen as undermining Western sanctions as Russia continues to benefit from energy revenues.
India’s fuel purchases from Russia were not discussed at Saturday’s meeting, India’s Foreign Minister Vinay Kwatra told reporters. New Delhi says it is defending its own interests in buying Russian oil.
A source for the French President told reporters that Brazilian Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will also meet Zelenskyy in Hiroshima.
European officials said it was crucial that Zelenskyy appeared in person, first for Friday’s Arab League summit in Saudi Arabia and now for the meeting in Hiroshima, so he could present Ukraine’s perspective on how to end the war with Russia could.
“I think this is a unique opportunity to exchange views with many countries of the South and to express your situation, to express a message and to share an opinion,” said French President Emmanuel Macron.
“I really think it can be groundbreaking.”
RUSSIAN, CHINESE IRISHMAN
The G7 countries – the US, Japan, Germany, the UK, France, Italy and Canada – are grappling with the challenges posed by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and tensions with China, including over Taiwan, the self-governing island which Beijing claims for itself.
[1/11] Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi shake hands during the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan May 20, 2023. Press Service of the President of Ukraine/Handout via Portal
On Friday, leaders announced new measures to disrupt Russia’s economy and pledged more military support, including helping US President Joe Biden to train Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 fighter jets.
Concerned about the outsized role China is now playing in the supply chains for everything from semiconductors to critical minerals, the G7 issued a communique outlining a common strategy for how to deal with the world’s second largest economy going forward.
They warned that countries attempting to weaponize trade would face “consequences.” This was a signal to Beijing about practices that Washington says amount to economic harassment.
“We are not decoupling and turning inward. At the same time, we recognize that economic resilience requires de-risking and diversification,” they said. “A growing China that abides by international rules would be of global interest.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Saturday that the decisions taken by the G7 showed they were intent on what he called “double containment” by Russia and China.
“The task was set loudly and openly – to defeat Russia on the battlefield, but not to stop there, but to eliminate it as a geopolitical competitor,” Lavrov said.
A statement from China’s Foreign Ministry accused the G7 of interfering in its internal affairs, including in Taiwan. It was said that severe allegations had been made to the summit host, Japan.
“It is important to remind the G7 that the days when some Western countries worked together to manipulate the world are over,” the Chinese embassy in Japan said in a statement later in the day.
The aim of the summit is to achieve consensus among the world’s rich democracies on a range of political and economic issues.
The G7 acknowledged differences in addressing the rapid development of artificial intelligence, saying that “the shared vision and goal of trustworthy AI may vary,” but called for consensus on global technical standards.
While reaffirming existing net-zero emissions targets in the fight against climate change, they said in their communiqué that investments in the gas sector may be temporarily appropriate as countries shed their dependence on Russian energy.
A month ago, a communiqué following a previous G7 meeting stated that fossil fuel subsidies were “contrary to the goals of the Paris climate agreement”.
“Given the urgent need to phase out fossil fuels, what leaders have brought to the table represents an endorsement of the new fossil gas,” said Tracy Carty, global climate policy expert at Greenpeace International, in a statement .
Reporting by the Portal G7 team in Hiroshima; writing by David Dolan; Edited by Nick Macfie
Our standards: The Thomson Portal Trust Principles.