G7 foreign ministers’ meeting: UK urges allies to unite against ‘Russian posturing towards Ukraine’

The two-day meeting of foreign ministers from the Group of Seven nations on going in the British city of Liverpool on Saturday.

Members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will attend some of the sessions online for the first time.

The ministers are expected to discuss security and human rights issues, with China’s increasing influence and assertive behavior apparently in mind.

Climate change, tensions in the western Balkans, Afghanistan and North Korea are also on the agenda for a meeting that will include both foreign and development ministers from the G7 countries.

Also on the agenda is the global response to the coronavirus pandemic following the spread of the Omicron variant.

Japan’s Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa, attending the meeting for the first time, intends to express his country’s intention of playing an active role in addressing those issues.

Hayashi met British Foreign Secretary Elizabeth Truss before the meeting, and they agreed to work together to achieve peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region.

They also confirmed their countries’ intentions to work together to promote vaccination globally, with the spread of the new variant in mind.

The ministers attending the meeting may also discuss the “diplomatic boycott” of the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympics recently announced by the US and other governments.

Meanwhile, the United Kingdom has urged allies to “present a united front against…Russian posturing towards Ukraine” ahead of a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Liverpool this weekend.

“This weekend the world’s most influential democracies will take a stand against aggressors who seek to undermine liberty and send a clear message that we are a united front,” UK foreign secretary Liz Truss said in a statement.

The UK warned that any Russian invasion of Ukraine would be “a serious strategic error and yield severe consequences.”

NATO countries have warned they will inflict economic sanctions if Russia invades Ukraine.

Many Western nations have expressed concern about a buildup of troops on the Ukrainian border.

Truss also said she wanted to work with other countries “to make sure that free democratic nations are able to have an alternative to Russian gas supplies” amid a natural gas crisis in Europe.