Kishida says G7 should show strong will on Russia’s Ukraine invasion

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Saturday that the G7 summit in Hiroshima in May should demonstrate a strong will to uphold international
order and rule of law after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Speaking at a news conference in Washington a day after a summit with U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday, Kishida made no mention of a comment by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who accused the Japanese leader on Saturday of shameful subservience to the United States and suggested he
should ritually disembowel himself.
At their summit Biden and Kishida said their alliance was stronger than ever after Japan last month announced its biggest military build-up since World War Two, amid mounting security concerns about China, North Korea and Russia.
Kishida also stressed the importance of standing up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, saying that if a unilateral change to the status quo went unchallenged, the same would happen elsewhere, including in Asia – an apparent reference to China’s vow to reunite with self-governed Taiwan, by force if necessary.
Kishida came to Washington on the last stop of a tour of G7 industrial powers and has been seeking to bolster long-standing alliances.