China blames US, Japan for Taiwan tensions as Biden lands in Hiroshima for G-7summit

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) – Beijing on Thursday blamed Washington and Tokyo for “obstructing” reunification of Taiwan with mainland China as US President Joe Biden landed in Japan for a G-7 summit.

“Advocating for a peaceful resolution but not supporting China’s reunification is essentially an attempt to obstruct the great cause of China’s reunification and create division and instability across the Taiwan Straits, which will be firmly opposed by the Chinese people,” Wang Wenbin, spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry, told reporters in Beijing.

Beijing’s comments came as Japan is hosting the G-7 summit and the leaders from the member nations have started arriving in the historic Hiroshima city for the three-day event. The nuclear-bombed city is witnessing stringent security due to the high-profile event.

“The US and Japan, which continuously hollow out the one-China principle and collude with Taiwan secessionists, have the unshirkable responsibility for the tense situation across the Straits,” alleged Wang, according to a report by the Chinese daily Global Times.

The report added G-7 members are “reportedly coordinating to include ‘peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits’ in their joint declaration” at the event.

China considers Taiwan as its “breakaway province” while Taipei has insisted on its independence since 1949.

Since the former Donald Trump administration, Washington has increased its engagement with Taipei, supplying the island nation with arms worth billions of dollars.

Biden, accompanied by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, reached Japan on Thursday where they first drove to a US military base, close to the G-7 summit venue in Hiroshima.

Japan hosts around 50,000 American troops under a bilateral defense pact.

“At the Marine Corps facility, the American leader spent 20 minutes greeting US troops and personnel from Japan's Self-Defense Forces,” Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported.

Later, Biden is set to meet Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for a bilateral summit.

The US dropped nuclear bombs on Hiroshima – the site of the world's first atomic bombing on Aug. 6, 1945, and then Nagasaki, which resulted in the deaths of at least 140,000 people by the end of that year. The dead include more than 20,000 Koreans.

Jake Sullivan, US National Security Advisor, however, has said Biden "has no plans to issue an apology on behalf of the United States for the use of an atomic bomb on Hiroshima in 1945 during his trip," Tokyo-based Kyodo News reported.

- Russia-Ukraine war

On the Russia-Ukraine war, Sergiy Korsunsky, Ukrainian ambassador in Tokyo, said Kyiv “expects a strong message from the G7 leaders in support of his country.”

Besides seeking a nuclear-free world, Japan’s focus during the G-7 summit has been “respect to an international order based on law and rules.”

Besides Biden, the Japanese premier is hosting Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, French President Emmanuel Macron, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, European Council head Charles Michel, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, while leaders from Australia, India, Indonesia, and South Korea are also invited to attend the summit.

According to the agenda, the G-7 leaders are expected to discuss the ongoing Moscow-Kyiv war, and issues of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, climate and energy, food, health, gender, human rights, digitalization, and science and technology.

It is the first time in the past seven years that Japan is hosting the G-7 summit.

The last one was hosted by then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who died due to a gunshot last year, in the Ise-Shima area of Mie province, in central Japan.