In turn, the Japanese government is making every effort to get the Chinese to attend, most recently suggesting that Premier Zhu Rongji visit before the summit, now set for July 21-23. It appears that the G-8 stage not normally known to produce friction is being set for diplomatic and economic confrontation. The meeting will bring the world s major industrial powers, led by the United States, face to face with the foreign policies of Moscow and Beijing. The United States is pressing NATO to expand toward Russia, while Russia and Beijing are trying to find ways to counterbalance U.S. influence in the Caucasus and Taiwan. By the summit, acting President Vladimir Putin will likely be president of Russia and China s bid to join the World Trade Organization will nearly be determined.
Japan seems eager to head off any controversy by acting as honest broker.
Almost immediately the Japanese foreign ministry refuted the report but said that Obuchi is eager to meet the Russian leader, Russia s Itar-Tass reported on March 3. The Obuchi government also appears poised to represent Chinese interests at the summit in case a delegation from Beijing does not attend. China was initially invited under observer status. Beyond the tactics of summitry, it appears that the Japanese government is genuinely concerned about the possibility that it may get caught in a political confrontation between the United States, on one hand, and Russia and China, on the other. Japan is increasingly trying to position itself as the voice of Asia and yet it is still host to the only forward-deployed U.S. aircraft carrier, as well as some 40,000 U.S. troops.