Dear ST reader, 

We hope you’ve been keeping well. 

Our offerings for the Asian Insider newsletter this week revolve around summits and their outcomes. 

While leaders of the world’s wealthy economies gathered in Hiroshima for the Group of Seven (G-7) summit to discuss the Ukraine war and “de-risking” from China, President Xi Jinping hosted an alternative meeting of Central Asian states in Xi’an that our global affairs correspondent Jonathan Eyal says displays Beijing’s ambitions to forge a different world order. 

The week was also notable for missed meetings and fresh engagements. A looming debt crisis at home forced US President Joe Biden to cancel his trip to Papua New Guinea (PNG), a no-show which could damage Washington’s push for influence in the strategically-located Pacific islands, reports Jonathan Pearlman from Sydney. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi however