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What's the article about?
- It talks about the recently concluded 49th G7 summit in Japan – its major outcomes and impact on world & India.
Relevance:
- GS2: Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and Agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests;
- Prelims
Context:
- Recently, the 49th G7 summit in Japan concluded. The venue of the summit was Hiroshima city (which was largely destroyed by an atomic bomb during World War II.) in Japan.
- This summit comes at a time when the world is faced with enervating challenges such as the war in Ukraine, the threat of nuclear proliferation, rapidly transpiring impacts of climate change, economic security, unstable supply chains and the impact and regulation of sensitive technologies.
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G7 Summit:
Significance of Holding the G7 Summit in Hiroshima:
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Analysis:
- Complex geopolitical landscape of the Indo-Pacific and Japan:
- The major focus of the summit was peace and security in the Indo-Pacific which seems to be further aggravated by present geopolitical events.
- These events are:
- Russia’s aggression in Ukraine;
- a China that is increasingly on the offensive with an ever-active military and nuclear modernisation plan;
- China’s growing military pressures on Taiwan;
- and the dangers posed by North Korea’s increasingly volatile nuclear posturing and nuclear weapons programme.
- To tackle the challenge of China, Japan needs strategic partnerships with major countries among the G7 and India.
- Economy and technology:
- In the weeks leading up to the Summit and during it, Tokyo sought to step up collaboration in science and technology and progressed its objective of reinvigorating the country’s chip industry.
- India and Japan partnership:
- Recent years have witnessed steady collaboration between New Delhi and Tokyo, with regular joint military exercises and the progress of agreements on economic cooperation.
- While Japan has been involved in the South Asian region through its involvement in several infrastructure initiatives, recent years have witnessed India partnering with Japan for advancing the same objective through the development of infrastructure projects in third countries in the Indo-Pacific region.
- As two of the world’s largest democracies, the continued cooperation between India and Japan is an important indicator of what sustained partnerships can achieve in addressing the challenges of the 21st century.
- The G-7 2023 Summit was another opportunity for Japan and India to further strengthen their partnership and expand the scope of their shared interests.
- Two key principles form the central basis for both Japan and India’s role in the Indo-Pacific —
- first, the preservation of a rules-based order; and
- second, opposition to any unilateral attempt to alter regional order.
Both countries reiterated these principles at the Hiroshima Summit, particularly with reference to Russia and China.
- Closer and stronger ties between India and Japan are significant for boosting middle-power diplomacy in the region.
Way Forward:
- Japan is an important partner of India in the field of technology and ensuring freedom in the Indo-Pacific region.
- The Hiroshima Summit reinforced Japan’s re-emergence as a critical security actor which is increasingly willing to shape the emerging strategic contours of the Indo-Pacific and the wider global order.
