G-7 Foreign Ministers Concerned over China's Maritime Moves

Hiroshima, April 10 (Jiji Press)--Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven major nations shared concern over China's development of military facilities in the South China Sea and its expansion in the East China Sea, on the first day Sunday of their annual meeting in this western Japan city. In a night session that focused on maritime security, the G-7 foreign ministers shared concern over unilateral attempts to change the status quo and agreed on the importance of order based on the principle of international law, Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, chair of the G-7 ministerial meeting, told reporters. The ministers also exchanged views on the situation in North Korea. They condemned the reclusive state's repeated provocations, notably nuclear and missile tests, and its human rights record including abductions of foreign nationals, and agreed to demand that the country take positive steps quickly. In an afternoon session, the participants condemned the deadly terrorist attacks in Brussels in March and other indiscriminate acts of atrocity by extremists and reaffirmed that the G-7 club will lead international collaborations to fight terrorism and deal with the refugee crisis in Europe. On measures to fight terrorism and address an influx of refugees from the Middle East to Europe, Kishida said it is important for the G-7 members to make use of their respective strengths and implement the measures in a way that complements each other and generates synergistic effects. He revealed Japan's plans to provide humanitarian assistance actively through countries that accept refugees. Earlier on Sunday, in an address at a welcome reception, Kishida underscored the importance of the first G-7 foreign ministers' meeting ever to be held in one of the two atom-bombed Japanese cities. "We want to make it (the meeting) an opportunity to send a strong message of peace from Hiroshima to the world toward the goal of creating a world without nuclear weapons," said Kishida, a lawmaker elected from a constituency in Hiroshima. The Hiroshima conference is the first in a series of ministerial sessions associated with the annual G-7 summit in the Ise-Shima region in Mie Prefecture, central Japan, on May 26-27. On Monday morning, the top diplomats of the G-7 nations--Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States--as well as the European Union are scheduled to pay floral tributes to the cenotaph dedicated to the victims of the U.S. atomic bombing in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and visit Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. It will be first time that any sitting foreign minister from a nuclear power has visited the city's symbolic park. Hiroshima was devastated by a U.S. atomic bomb on Aug. 6, 1945, in the closing days of World War II, and Nagasaki, southwestern Japan, suffered a similar fate three days later. They are the only cities in the world that have ever been attacked with nuclear weapons. The G-7 foreign ministers will conclude the two-day conference on Monday afternoon by adopting a joint statement summing up their discussions and a separate Hiroshima declaration presenting a new framework of efforts on nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier missed many of the first-day events on Sunday as an aircraft problem prevented him from arriving in Hiroshima in time. He joined his G-7 counterparts from a working dinner. END