Clockwise from front left: Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, Deputy Secretary-General of the European External Action Service (EEAS) Enrique Mora, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken pose at their working dinner during the G7 Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture, on Sunday night. While acknowledging the importance of building a "constructive and stable" relationship with China, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and his counterparts agreed that they are opposed to any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force, it said. The Karuizawa meeting is the second in a series of in-person G7 ministerial meetings being held in Japan in the run-up to the summit in May in Hiroshima. Another meeting bringing together G7 environment and energy ministers ended on Sunday in the northern city of Sapporo in Hokkaido. Hayashi is also planning to hold other bilateral meetings on the fringes of the G7 foreign ministerial discussions, including with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, according to government sources.

Source: The Guardian April 17, 2023 07:21 UTC