G-7 ministers will discuss S. China Sea, disarmament at Hiroshima meet

HIROSHIMA (Kyodo) -- Foreign ministers of the Group of Seven nations on Sunday began two-day talks in Hiroshima, the city devastated by a U.S. atomic bomb in 1945, anxious to show their solidarity in tackling nuclear disarmament, terrorism and maritime security in the South China Sea.

On maritime security, the ministers from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States are expected to voice opposition to any unilateral action to change the status quo amid concerns about China's suspected militarization of parts of the South China Sea.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier will miss all Sunday's official events, including G-7 talks and a one-one-one meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, due to a delay in his arrival, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said.

The ministry said mechanical problems with the German minister's aircraft caused his delay and said a senior German Foreign Ministry official will attend Sunday's events on behalf of Steinmeier.

As the only Asian nation in the G-7, host Japan will seek to get Western countries more involved in the South China Sea issue on behalf of such Southeast Asian countries as Vietnam and the Philippines, which have territorial disputes with China in the area, Japanese officials said.

China has urged G-7 states not to take up the South China Sea issue at the meeting. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned Friday that discussing the issue would be "harmful to regional stability," according to the state-run Xinhua News Agency.

While none of the G-7 countries have direct territorial interests in the waters, the busy sea lane stretching from the Strait of Malacca to the South China Sea is a key route for shipping oil and other products.

The G-7 countries want to ensure that freedom of navigation and the rule of law are observed in the area amid China's massive and fast-paced land reclamation work in the waters, deemed as a way of asserting its territorial claims and maritime interests, the Japanese officials said.

Tokyo also believes that China's territorial claims there, if unchallenged, would give impetus to Beijing's claim to the Japan-administered Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea.

Nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation will also be a key agenda item at the meeting given North Korea's development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles and the discord between the United States and Russia, two nuclear superpowers, over the Ukraine crisis.

The meeting, chaired by Kishida, a veteran Diet member elected from a constituency in Hiroshima, is expected to issue a declaration stressing the G-7 countries' commitment to achieving a world free of nuclear weapons.

It will also encourage leaders of various fields to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki to learn first-hand about the scars of the U.S. atomic bombings, Japanese government sources said.

Among the G-7 nations, Britain, France and the United States possess nuclear weapons.

The meeting in the western Japan city follows the collapse of last year's Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty review meeting, which failed to produce an outcome document and dealt a heavy blow to global efforts to advance disarmament talks.

On the fringes of the G-7 meeting on Monday, John Kerry will become the first U.S. secretary of state to visit the Peace Memorial Museum in Hiroshima and lay flowers at a cenotaph for atomic bomb victims when he goes there with the other G-7 foreign ministers.

Many Japanese expect that Kerry's actions will pave the way for U.S. President Barack Obama to visit Hiroshima when he is in Japan to attend the G-7 leaders summit in May in Mie Prefecture, central Japan. Hopes for the U.S. leader's visit have grown in Japan after Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009 for pledging to seek a world free of nuclear weapons.

In the wake of the deadly terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels, the global fight against terrorism and violent extremism will also be a main agenda item.

In the chairman's statement to be released on Monday, the ministers are expected to pledge to use information on suspects on the wanted list of the International Criminal Police Organization to counter terrorism, sources having access to a draft statement have said.

They will also likely agree to launch a system enabling every member country's customs authorities to request from airlines itinerary information for bookings as part of efforts to prevent terrorists from entering the G-7 countries, the sources said.

Among regional issues, the ministers will discuss the refugee crisis in the Middle East, the war in Syria, and North Korea's nuclear weapon and missile development programs in defiance of the international community's call for restraint.

On the situation in Ukraine, the G-7 ministers are expected to call on Russia and all other combatants to adhere to last-year's cease-fire agreement.

The Hiroshima meeting is the first of a series of G-7 ministerial talks leading up to the May 25-26 leaders summit.