Can the G7 Summit Jumpstart Kishida’s Denuclearization Dream?

On May 21, the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, Japan, concluded with much fanfare. The G-7, dubbed as an elite club of the world’s rich nations, has arguably never had such an intensive – and attention-grabbing – meeting: Wartime Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy landed in the A-bombed city of Hiroshima and made his case not only to G-7 leaders but also to leaders of the Global South, such as India, for support in Kyiv's efforts to repel Russia's aggression.

As if that wasn’t enough, the sidelines of the G-7 proper also saw were a meeting of the Quad, composed of Australia, India, Japan, and the United States, as well as the trilateral summit between Japan, South Korea, and the U.S.

As such, the G-7 marks a big moment for Prime Minister Kishida Fumio, who is well-versed in diplomacy as the longest-serving Japanese foreign minister under the late Abe Shinzo administration.

“I invited President Zelenskyy of Ukraine to Japan, and we’ve shown the firm solidarity between the G-7 and Ukraine,” Kishida said at a press conference at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park on May 21 after the G-7 summit concluded.

“We’ve powerfully demonstrated to the world our message that the G-7 will renew our resolve to fully uphold the free and open international order based on the rule of law,” he added.

The Hiroshima Summit will likely become a historical and critical turning point when we look back in years to come, as it consolidated efforts to isolate Russia and pledged to support Ukraine by dispelling lingering concerns of “Ukrainian fatigue” in the West.

The G-7 summit issued copious joint statements on partnerships, ranging from a new set of sanctions against Russia to energy and food security to climate change. With that done, one major challenge remains: nuclear weapons.

At the press conference, Kishida, a native of Hiroshima, highlighted that the G-7 leaders signed on to the “Hiroshima Vision” on nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation for the first time. The declaration is based on the “Hiroshima Action Plan,” which Kishida announced at a Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) in New York on August 1, 2022.

This plan consists of five pillars: continuing the non-use of nuclear weapons; enhancing the transparency of nuclear capabilities; maintaining the decreasing trend in the global nuclear stockpile; securing nuclear non-proliferation and promoting the peaceful use of nuclear energy; and encouraging international leaders and others to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the only two cities in the world to have suffered wartime atomic bombings.

This time, Kishida has already achieved the fifth point of the plan by taking the G-7 leaders and non-G-7 leaders invited as guests – including the presidents of South Korea, Indonesia, and Brazil – to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, which collects and displays belongings left by the victims during the summit. The leaders also listened to testimony from the hibakusha, atomic bombing survivors.

At the press conference, Kishida lauded “the historical significance” of the Hiroshima Vision issued by the G-7 leaders, who directly felt the reality of the atomic bombing and the desire of the people wishing for peace.

But more than a few of the hibakusha in Hiroshima and international anti-nuclear organizations severely criticized the G-7 summit for failing to show concrete steps toward nuclear disarmament. They also accused the summit of not using the words “nuclear abolition” in any of the statements.

Setsuko Thurlow, who was exposed to radiation at the age of 13 in Hiroshima and now lives in Canada, held a press conference in Hiroshima on May 21. She was disappointed after reading the G-7 leaders’ statement released on May 20.

“Is this all they can write? It’s an insult to atomic bomb victims,” she said by pointing out the statement did not mention the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which Japan has yet to sign.

“The summit was a huge failure,” said Thurlow, 91, who is well-known for being a leading figure of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear weapons (ICAN). She gave the acceptance speech for its reception of the 2017 Nobel peace prize.

Her remark became big news in Japan on May 21, because she personally has a distant family connection with Prime Minister Kishida. Specifically, Kishida Eiji, Thurlow’s nephew, died in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima at the age of four, along with his mother (Thurlow’s older sister). Eiji was a second cousin to the prime minister.

Thurlow and Kishida represent the gap between ideal and reality regarding nuclear weapons. That divergence also symbolizes the wide division of opinion within Japan. Generally speaking, as a country that suffered atomic bombings, Japanese schools teach a lot about the importance of nuclear abolition, but not much about that of nuclear deterrence.

The road to achieving both nuclear abolition and nuclear deterrence is not an easy one. In reality, Japan is surrounded by three nuclear powers, China, Russia, and North Korea, and is protected by the U.S. nuclear umbrella.

Russia and North Korea are stepping up their nuclear threats, and China is rapidly expanding its nuclear arsenal. Meanwhile, South Korea has called for the United States to strengthen its nuclear umbrella, and the harsh reality is that the Japanese government is also calling for Washington to strengthen its nuclear deterrence.

In addition, looking anew at the world around Japan, in late April, U.S. President Joe Biden decided to dispatch a U.S. strategic nuclear-powered submarine capable of carrying nuclear weapons to South Korea, with an eye on North Korea. The Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), which was announced by the Biden administration in October 2022, avoided adopting a “sole purpose policy” regarding nuclear weapons, which would limit the use of nuclear weapon to retaliation against nuclear attacks.

The United States is not alone in bolstering – rather than reducing – its nuclear forces. In 2021, the U.K. withdrew its target of reducing its nuclear warhead count “to a maximum of 180 by the mid-2020s.” In a speech in November 2022, French President Emmanuel Macron assured that the French nuclear deterrent “contributed” to the “security” of Europe.

The leaders of non-nuclear states Germany, Italy, and Canada, as well as Japan itself, also gathered at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. The question is whether the leaders of those developed countries that can lead the world will be able to use this visit as an opportunity to bring about nuclear disarmament.

That said, inviting world leaders to Hiroshima and conveying to the international community the horrors of the atomic bombing through the experiences of hibakusha will at least raise awareness of the inhumanity of the use of nuclear weapons. It may also raise the hurdles for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine.