Jacques Serais, edited by Laura Laplaud / Photo credit: MICHAEL KAPPELER / DPA / DPA PICTURE-ALLIANCE VIA AFP
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1:53 p.m., May 18, 2023
The leaders of the G7 meet this week in Hiroshima (western Japan) to toughen their tone against Russia 15 months after its invasion of Ukraine and adopt a common line vis-à-vis the Chinese superpower. This summit will be marked by the weight of history: on August 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
The three-day summit, starting Friday, of major industrialized democracies will cover everything from energy to artificial intelligence, but the focus will be on loopholes allowing Moscow to mitigate the impact of sanctions of the G7 on its economy. A summit that will inevitably be steeped in the weight of history: on August 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. More than 140,000 deaths were recorded between August 6 and the end of December 1945.
A city destroyed in an instant
Before even getting around the discussion table, the Heads of State and Government will visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial. A place that cannot leave anyone indifferent; as soon as you enter this museum, the sound of the bomb’s blast seizes you.
In just under 24 hours, Joe Biden, Rishi Sunak or even Emmanuel Macron will be able to listen to this historical reminder with the help of an audio guide. “It’s 8:15 a.m., an atomic bomb has just been dropped and exploded 600 meters above the city of Hiroshima. The life of this city was wiped out in an instant by the atomic bomb,” perhaps we hear.
Objective: make an impression
The leaders of this world will see with their own eyes the devastation that nuclear weapons can wreak. To realize this, there are these vestiges, these everyday objects preserved in this museum, like this garment worn at the time by a 13-year-old teenager. “The uniform you see was stuck to his skin because of his burns. The young man was only wearing one shoe when he was found, it’s the one you see in the window”, details the voice of the audio guide.
Japan, host country of this G7, wishes to make an impression in a particularly tense international context. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida invited the leaders of India, Brazil and Indonesia to the sidelines. It is a question of convincing these States, not aligned, to take side on Russia, but also on China.