SVG
Commentary
Wall Street Journal

As G7 Host, Japan Schools the World

walter_russell_mead
walter_russell_mead
Ravenel B. Curry III Distinguished Fellow in Strategy and Statesmanship
.
Caption
Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Fumio Kishida shake hands following the conclusion of the G7 Summit Leaders' Meeting on May 21, 2023, in Hiroshima, Japan. (Yuichi Yamazaki/Pool via Getty Images)

The Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, Japan, over the weekend was unusual. It mattered.

Most of these annual summits are vacuous affairs that are quickly forgotten. Their communiqués, endlessly negotiated by diplomats and advisers, rarely have much effect on national policy or world events. Their most important function, besides providing taxpayer subsidized photo-ops where politicians strut their stuff as “world leaders,” is to let heads of government chat informally and size each other up.

Read in the Wall Street Journal.