World leaders began gathering in Japan,
May 25, 2016 ahead of a Group of Seven summit set to be dominated by the dull
global economy. The leaders were making their way to Ise Shima, a mountainous and
sparsely populated area 300 kilometers (200 miles) southwest of Tokyo, whose
mainly elderly residents rely chiefly on tourism and cultured pearls.
Tokyo has assigned tight security
across the region, stating that they are taking no chances in the wake of
terror attacks that struck Paris and Brussels in recent month. The area was
secured with thousands of extra police drafted in to patrol train stations and
ferry terminals, and to direct traffic on the usual quiet roads during the
two-day meeting.
Dustbins have been removed or sealed
and coin-operated lockers blocked at train and subway stations in the capital
and areas around the venue site. Authorities will also keep on eye on so called
“soft-targets” such as theaters and stadiums. However, protests are still
expected to cause much of a security headache.
The demonstration organized for Wednesday
morning focused mostly on Japan’s domestic politics attracted handful of
elderly protesters. Britain’s David Cameron, whose country’s referendum next
month on continued membership of the European Union, arrived late in the
afternoon at the main international airport near Nagoya. Cameron was set for a
one-on-one meeting later in the day with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Abe was also due Wednesday to meet US
President Barack Obama, whose visit to the atomic-bombed city of Hiroshima of
Friday threatened to overshadow the summit. Obama will be the first sitting US
leader to travel and visit the site of the world’s first nuclear attack.
Obama has spent the last few days in
Vietnam, where he urged the communist authorities to embrace human rights and
abandon authoritarianism.
France’s Francois Hollande and Germany’s
Angela Merkel were expected to arrive on Thursday morning. The meeting will
also be joined by Italy’s Matteo Renzi and Canada’s Justin Trudeau.
The leaders will spend Thursday
morning at Ise Jingu, a huge shrine complex that sits at the spiritual heart of
Japan’s native Shintoism. The sputtering global economy was expected to take
center stage in the formal talks, which begin on Thursday afternoon, although
divisions were likely to remain over whether the world should spend or save its
way out of the current malaise.
Although China will not be present, it
will take up a large part of the discussions with Japan and the US keen to
corral support for a growing pushback against Beijing’s territorial assertiveness
in the South China Sea. The G7 will also discuss the threat of Islamic
terrorism, with France’s Hollande strongly to address the issue after a brutal
year of the country being hit twice by jihadists.
Source: Manila Bulletin
Share It To Your Friends!
Loading...