During a virtual summit on democracy led by the United States, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Wednesday that the rule of law is the absolute minimum the international community needs to ensure peace, recounting his recent visit to Ukraine.
On the opening day of the two-day event involving about 120 countries, civil society groups and technology companies, Kishida vowed to take a leading role in strengthening democracy as this year's chair of the Group of Seven summit and a nonpermanent member of the U.N. Security Council.
"I saw with my own eyes evidence of Russia's aggression and heard directly from those who had experienced atrocities," Kishida said. "I renewed my conviction that we humankind must position the rule of law as a norm that our society should follow."