Modi key leader, must outline G20 agenda at Hiroshima: Japan envoy

“PM Kishida aims to achieve two things – one is to send a strong message that Russia cannot go on like this. If a big state can bully neighbouring smaller countries and go unpunished… then other countries will get tempted… So this has a real risk of generating so many more conflicts around the world,” he said.

Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida shakes hands with Narendra Modi before their meeting at the Hyderabad House in New Delhi, March 20, 2023. (Reuters)

While India has not condemned the Russian invasion explicitly, walking the fine diplomatic tightrope between the US-led West and Russia, Japan has condemned it and joined the sanctions imposed on Moscow.

Emphasising the need to address pressing global issues, Suzuki, who took charge as Japan’s ambassador in September last year, said: “Kishida wants to generate more unity in the international community, and how to do it is where India comes in. Because PM Modi can speak with legitimacy as the voice of the Global South. He hosted the Global South summit in January, he spoke to more than 100 countries’ leaders.”

“So, in Hiroshima, PM Kishida wants PM Modi to explain in person, face-to-face with the leaders of other G7 countries, plus the heads of states of invited countries, what he wants to put on the agenda for the September G20 summit, because G20 is the world’s premier economic forum,” he said.

“United, we have a much better chance of addressing these issues – food crisis, energy security, climate change, sustainable development, health. PM Modi is the key leader and, in fact, he is the leader PM Kishida looks to among the invited countries… because this close cooperation, collaboration in bringing about synergy between the G7 and G20 is vitally important,” he said.

“India’s presence (at Hiroshima) is extremely important, because, even though it has not signed the NPT, India still shares this ultimate goal of realising a world without nuclear weapons. It has a good record of non-proliferation. So, India can be a very important interlocutor to bridge the differences among various groups. Because, with Putin’s threat of use of nuclear weapons, we now have this challenge of nuclear weapons becoming sort of an extension of conventional weapons. That is not the case,” he said.

“If you visit Hiroshima, you can see what kind of indescribable horrors the people went through. So clearly, Hiroshima and Nagasaki should be the last. No more Hiroshima, no more Nagasaki. And Putin’s rhetoric has put this at risk. So, PM Kishida wants to form a coalition of like-minded countries. A world without nuclear weapons cannot be achieved by Japan. It has to be a concerted effort by all the states in the world and for that, India is a critically important partner, because India shares, PM Modi shares, this ultimate idea of creating a world without nuclear weapons,” Suzuki said.

On China’s aggressive behaviour, he said the war in Ukraine has global implications. “Precisely because it destroys the core values – sovereignty, territorial integrity, rule of law enshrined in the UN charter. So we want to reaffirm at Hiroshima that we cannot allow the world to slip back to the old times of law of the jungle. And for that, upholding the rule of law is critically important, unilateral attempts to change the status quo must not be permitted anywhere around the world, not in the Indo Pacific, not in South China Sea, not in East China Sea. So this is one of the critically important issues that PM Kishida wants to reaffirm and PM Modi’s participation is important. Because, from time to time, more than too often, China makes unilateral attempts to change the status quo and we are encouraged to see India upholding a principled stance that in fact, such unilateral attempts must not be allowed. So to reaffirm this critically important principle, India is a vital partner for PM Kishida,” he said.

Suzuki, who served as executive secretary to late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for seven-and-a-half years, had attended all the 15 bilateral meetings between Modi and Abe.