Leaders of the G7 countries have warned China and North Korea against building up their nuclear arsenals, pivoting to major northeast Asian crises as leaders tighten sanctions meant to punish Russia over its 15-month war with Ukraine.
The Group of Seven leaders face a high-stakes balancing act at Hiroshima as they look to address a raft of global worries demanding urgent attention, including climate change, AI, poverty and economic instability, nuclear proliferation and, above all, the war in Ukraine.
China, the world’s second-largest economy, sits at the nexus of many of those concerns.
There is increasing anxiety that Beijing, which has been steadily building up its nuclear weapons programme, could try to seize Taiwan by force, sparking a wider conflict. China claims the self-governing island as its own and regularly sends ships and warplanes near it.
The G7 leaders issued a statement warning that China’s “accelerating build-up of its nuclear arsenal without transparency (or) meaningful dialogue poses a concern to global and regional stability.”
They also urged North Korea, which has been testing missiles at a torrid pace in an attempt to perfect a nuclear program meant to target the mainland United States, to completely abandon its nuclear bomb ambitions.
That includes “any further nuclear tests or launches that use ballistic missile technology. North Korea cannot and will never have the status of a nuclear-weapon State under” international nuclear treaties, according to the statement.
 G7’s focus on Asia comes ahead of the arrival later on Saturday of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose attendance stems from his “strong wish” to participate in talks that will influence his nation’s defence against Russia, confirmed by Japan.
United States national security adviser Jake Sullivan said that President Joe Biden and Zelenskyy would have a direct engagement at the summit, a day after Biden announced his support for training Ukrainian pilots on US-made F-16 fighter jets, a precursor to eventually providing those aircraft to Ukraine’s Air Force.
The green light on F-16 training is the latest shift by the Biden administration as it moves to arm Ukraine with more advanced and lethal weaponry, following earlier decisions to send rocket launcher systems and Abrams tanks.
The United States has insisted that it is sending weapons to Ukraine to defend itself and has discouraged attacks by Ukraine into Russian territory.
“We’ve reached a moment where it is time to look down the road again to say what is Ukraine going to need as part of a future force, to be able to deter and defend against Russian aggression as we go forward,” Sullivan said.
Biden told leaders that his decisions on when, how many, and who will provide the fourth-generation F-16 fighter jets will be made in the months ahead while the training is underway.
Zelenskyy has consistently called for Western fighter jets to bolster his country’s defences. As Ukraine has improved its air defences with a host of Western-supplied anti-aircraft systems and prepares to launch a counteroffensive against Russia, officials believe the jets could become essential to the country’s long-term security.
An EU official, speaking on condition of anonymity to brief reporters on the deliberations, said Zelenskyy will take part in two separate sessions on Sunday.
The first session will be with G7 members only and will focus on the war in Ukraine. The second session will include the G7 as well as the other nations invited to take part in the summit, and will focus on “peace and stability.”
The G7 leaders are also to discuss efforts to strengthen the global economy and address rising prices that are squeezing families and government budgets around the world, particularly in developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
A US official said the leaders on Saturday would issue a joint communique outlining new projects in the G7’s global infrastructure development initiative, which is meant to offer countries an alternative to China’s investment dollars.
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