Kishida Aimed to Be Bridge between Developed, Global South States

Tokyo, Sept. 11 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida strove to become a bridge between developed nations and so-called Global South emerging and developing countries during his recent trip to attend international conferences. Kishida reached out to Global South nations, which are facing a food crisis, based on discussions held at the summit of the Group of Seven major powers in Hiroshima, western Japan, in May. He returned to Japan on Monday after attending summits related to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Indonesia and a summit of the Group of 20 advanced and emerging economies in India. "We were able to share with the G-20 the points we had confirmed at the Hiroshima summit," Kishida told a press conference in New Delhi, India, on Sunday. In the G-20 summit, held in the Indian capital from Saturday, Kishida mainly stressed the need to address food security problems in Africa and elsewhere following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. As chairman of the Hiroshima summit, Kishida compiled a joint statement on food security with his G-7 partners and leaders of emerging and developing countries invited to the conference. Measures to tackle the issue were included in the G-20 leaders' declaration as well. "We wanted to reflect the achievements of Hiroshima" in the declaration, a Japanese Foreign Ministry official said, expressing relief because they were "explicitly included in the wording." Kishida's concern about emerging and developing countries stems from his worry over growing gaps between G-7 members and China and Russia. Kishida told the press conference that he attended the conferences in the two countries "with the aim of understanding the vulnerability of the Global South and showing a cooperative stance." He sought to win over countries that have stayed neutral in the rifts the G-7 members have with Beijing and Moscow. Meanwhile, Kishida also succeeded to some extent in gaining understanding from world leaders over Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.'s discharge of tritium-containing treated water into the Pacific Ocean from its meltdown-stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. During the trip, he repeatedly criticized China's blanket ban on imports of Japanese fishery products in the presence of world leaders. He explained Japan's view on the issue in one-on-one meetings with such leaders as well. "Understanding (for the discharge) has spread further," he said at the press conference. While in Jakarta on Wednesday, Kishida had a brief exchange with Chinese Premier Li Qiang. They were unable to work out a way to lift the fishery goods ban, however. "It will take time for China to back down," a Japanese government source said. Kishida is exploring the possibility of holding talks with President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum to be held in the United States in November. But it is unclear whether such a meeting can be realized. END