TOKYO (Kyodo) — Japan is considering inviting India and Indonesia as guests to a Group of Seven summit to be held in the western city of Hiroshima next year, a government source said Friday.
Japan is also considering inviting Australia to the three-day summit from May 19, while carefully looking into whether South Korea should be included in the “outreach” countries, the source said.
As chair of the G-7 grouping, a host nation can select who can attend outreach meetings held alongside a summit meeting between G-7 members — Britain, Canada, the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.
Tokyo plans to invite Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Indonesian President Joko Widodo for their roles as the chairs of the Group of 20 major economies and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations next year, respectively, the source said.
Inviting Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is also being considered, as Canberra is an important security partner to Tokyo, with both countries boosting defense cooperation in recent years.
Japan, the United States, Australia and India have formed a group called the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or simply the Quad, which advocates a vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific, seen as a counter to China’s increasing military and economic clout in the region.
The African Union can also be a guest. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida expressed support for the union’s entry to the G-20 during a meeting with Senegalese President Macky Sall, who currently chairs the AU, earlier this month.
The lineup of the outreach nations can be finalized as early as February, the source said.
The guests in the previous G-7 summit Japan hosted in 2016 were Bangladesh, Chad, Indonesia, Laos, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka and Vietnam, according to the Foreign Ministry.
It is unclear whether South Korea would be included in the mix, due partly to a prolonged dispute between the two countries over wartime labor issues, according to the source.
As Tokyo and Seoul have been working closely in dealing with North Korea’s missile development and nuclear program, the source said, “It is necessary to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of inviting South Korea.”
As a lawmaker, Kishida represents a constituency in Hiroshima, which was devastated by the 1945 U.S. atomic bombing. Amid growing concern that Russia could resort to using nuclear weapons in its war against Ukraine, he has said he hopes to signal at the next G-7 summit the need to realize a world free of nuclear weapons.
