The G7 foreign ministers will focus on security in both Europe and the Indo-Pacific as they meet in Japan from Sunday amid a worrying scene in Ukraine and rising Chinese assertiveness.

The three-day meeting in the resort town of Karuizawa also comes amid fears that some European G-7 leaders, notably French President Emmanuel Macron, may appear soft on Beijing’s threats to Taiwan.

In recent days, China has been conducting military exercises around Taiwan, which it claims is its territory, and has never shied away from using force to take control of the democratically governed island.

“The security of Europe and the Indo-Pacific region cannot be discussed separately – they are interconnected,” a spokesman for the Japanese Foreign Ministry, speaking on condition of anonymity, said of the upcoming meeting.

The meeting, which is attended by ministers from the US, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Canada, Italy and a European Union representative, comes ahead of a summit to be held in Hiroshima next month by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

Kishida visited Ukraine in March when Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

The conflict has sparked a rare outpouring of support for Ukraine in a pacifist Japan, with many Japanese seeing a Russian invasion as a potential threat to neighboring Taiwan from an increasingly assertive China.

“Japan’s strong support for Ukraine is partly because it seeks … greater Western support for East Asian issues,” said James Brown, professor of political science at Japan’s Temple University.

Washington is seeking commitment from the G7 to take further action to prevent China from taking steps to change the political status quo on the self-ruled island, a US diplomatic source told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

It will be doubly important for the G7 to reaffirm their solidarity and support for Ukraine, Brown said, given doubts about Europe’s stance on China after Macron warned against getting involved in any crisis over Taiwan.

“The G7 has been an important partner in holding Russia accountable for its aggression in Ukraine,” Deputy State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said Monday. “I have no doubt that the G7 will continue to play an important role in this, including at the upcoming meeting of foreign ministers.”

Security measures at the meeting remained the same, Japan’s foreign ministry said after an incident Saturday when a man threw smoke bombs at Fumio Kishida at a rally in western Japan. The Japanese Prime Minister was not injured, but the suspect was arrested.

Source: Reuters.