HIROSHIMA, Japan (AP) — Rulers of the world’s most powerful democracies have warned China and North Korea against building up their nuclear arsenals, instead focusing on dealing with major crises in Northeast Asia ahead of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s arrival later on Saturday.
The Group of Seven’s summit focused on Asia as those in attendance tightened sanctions to punish Moscow and turn the tide of the 15-month-long invasion of Ukraine. Japan confirmed that Zelenskyy’s decision to attend the G7 summit in person was based on his “strong desire” to participate in talks that would affect his country’s defense against Russia.
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said President Joe Biden and Zelenskyy would meet directly at the summit, a day after the US President announced his support for training Ukrainian pilots to fly US F-fighter jets. -16, a precursor to the eventual delivery of such aircraft to the US Ukrainian Air Force.
Leaders attending the summit face a busy day in Hiroshima as they address a range of global issues that require urgent attention, including climate change, artificial intelligence, poverty, economic instability, nuclear proliferation and more All in all, the war in Ukraine.
China, the world’s second largest economy, is at the heart of many of these concerns.
In Asia, there are growing concerns that Beijing, which is steadily developing its nuclear bomb program, may attempt to take Taiwan by force, which could spark a wider conflict. China claims the autonomous island as its own and regularly sends ships and warplanes in its vicinity.
G7 leaders issued a statement warning that China’s “accelerating nuclear arsenal build-up without transparency (or) meaningful dialogue poses a problem for global and regional stability.”
North Korea, which has been testing missiles at a dizzying rate to refine a nuclear program aimed at reaching US soil, must abandon its nuclear bombing ambitions entirely, leaders said, “including any further nuclear tests or launches” it uses ballistic missile technology . North Korea can and will never have nuclear-armed state status under “international nuclear treaties,” the statement said.
The green light for training to use F-16 fighter jets is the latest change announced by the Biden administration to equip Ukraine with more advanced and deadly weaponry, following a previous decision to send in system rocket launchers and Abrams tanks. The United States insists it is sending defense weapons to Ukraine and advises Kiev against attacking Russian territory.
Associated Press writers Josh Boak, Elaine Kurtenbach and Mari Yamaguchi in Hiroshima, Hanna Arhirova in Kiev, and Fatima Hussein in Washington contributed to this report.
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