Abe to start summit diplomacy on coccasion of G-20 leaders’ meeting

June 23, 2019

Tokyo--Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is set to start summit diplomacy on the occasion of a meeting of leaders from the Group of 20 advanced and emerging economies, scheduled to take place in the western Japan city of Osaka for two days from Friday.

By producing good results at the G-20 meeting and a series of bilateral summits he holds, Abe, also president of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, aims to demonstrate his diplomatic leadership in order to help the party score a victory in the election for the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet, the country's parliament, this summer, analysts said.

The G-20 summit will be chaired by Abe. This will be the first time for Japan to host the summit among the 20 economies, which include the Group of Seven major industrial nations--Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States--and China, South Korea, India and the European Union.

The Osaka summit will also be joined by eight countries and nine international bodies that will be invited as guests.

Kicking off the summit diplomacy, Abe is slated to meet with French President Emmanuel Macron in Tokyo on Wednesday. They are expected to confirm cooperation for the success of the G-20 summit and a G-7 summit in August, to be chaired by Macron.

After moving to Osaka on Thursday, Abe may hold talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping there on the same day. Abe hopes that the expected meeting will further improve Sino-Japanese relations and pave the way for a state visit to Japan by the Chinese leader.

With Xi, Abe is also expected to take up issues related to North Korea, after the president visited the country on Thursday and Friday for the first time since he took office in 2013.

The prime minister will hold a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday, after the two leaders met in April and again in May.

Amid growing concerns over a possible military clash between the United States and Iran, close attention will be paid to whether the Japanese leader, who visited Iran earlier this month to mediate between the two countries, can play a role in de-escalating the tensions, pundits said.

During the visit, Abe held separate talks with Iran's President Hassan Rouhani and the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

A meeting with Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin has been arranged for Friday.

At the G-20 summit, Japan will aim to adopt a joint statement highlighting the promotion of free trade and reforms of the World Trade Organization.

Still, Abe's summit diplomacy may involve risks.

Japan initially hoped that a broad agreement between Tokyo and Moscow over their longstanding territorial dispute will be reached at a bilateral summit to be held on the sidelines of the G-20 summit. But the goal now looks very difficult, as Putin has toughened his stance on Japan.

The territorial row concerns four Russian-controlled northwestern Pacific islands, which were seized by the former Soviet Union from Japan at the end of World War II and have long been claimed by Tokyo. The issue has prevented Tokyo and Moscow from concluding a peace treaty to formally end their wartime hostilities.

Escalating U.S.-China trade tensions are making it unclear whether the G-20 leaders will be able to produce a joint statement containing effective measures to deal with challenges facing the international community, sources said.

Abe is highly unlikely to hold an official bilateral summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, as relations between the two Asian neighbors have soured due partly to a series of South Korean court rulings that ordered Japanese companies to pay compensation to South Koreans requisitioned to work for the firms during World War II.

"I hope to make progress (in the territorial talks with Russia) although the work is not so easy," Abe said on television on Saturday.

"There could be sticky issues at the G-20 summit, but I'll work to help participants find a common ground and draw a positive conclusion," he added.

On the possibility of holding a bilateral summit with Moon, Abe said: "The schedule is tight. I'll study the matter by taking various factors into consideration."

In a related move, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga visited Osaka on Saturday to inspect the Intex Osaka convention center, the venue of the G-20 summit.

He urged police and coast guard officers to make all-out efforts to prevent terror attacks.

After receiving an explanation from officials concerned about progress in the preparations for the summit, Suga told reporters: "The Osaka G-20 summit will be one of the largest summit meetings to be hosted by Japan. The government will do all it can for its success." Jiji Press