Group of Eight foreign ministers flew to Japan on Tuesday to forge a common front in support of stability in the Middle East and Korea.
But developments overseas overshadowed the meeting's packed agenda at a heavily-guarded Pacific Ocean resort in the southern Japanese city of Miyazaki.
The spotlight was on Middle East peace talks at Camp David, Maryland, where the chance to settle five decades of conflict persuaded US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to skip her visit here.
She sent US Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott.
The main event for North Korea, too, was elsewhere. US and North Korean officials were already in talks in Malaysia over curbing Pyongyang's missile program.
"The real talks over key international issues such as the Middle East peace process will be held not in Miyazaki but elsewhere," said Susumu Takahashi, professor of politics at the University of Tokyo.
Members of the G8 -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States -- were to support the Middle East peace efforts, said a foreign ministry source.
They would also back the signs of greater openness from North Korea following its historic summit with South Korea last month, the ministry source said.
It was uncertain whether they would mention Pyongyang's ballistic missile program, Japanese newspapers said.
In two days of talks starting Wednesday, the ministers are to set the framework for a July 21-23 summit of G8 leaders, including US President Bill Clinton, on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa.
Security was heavy here.
Police with sidearms guarded roads leading to the World Convention Center in Miyazaki's Seagaia complex, once a big draw for honeymooners with its indoor white-sand beach and fake erupting volcano.
Some 5,700 policemen and coast guard officials deployed with 20 patrol boats and 10 patrol planes to survey the heavily-wooded coastline.
Japan is leaving nothing to chance with the G8 meetings, a critical test for Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, whose ruling bloc lost a slew of seats despite winning elections last month.
On Okinawa island, where the United States has about 25,000 troops, Tokyo issued strong protests after a drunken marine broke into an apartment and molested a 14-year-old girl in her bed last week.
But on Monday, the US military ordered an immediate, indefinite midnight curfew on its troops there to calm Japanese fears about local ill-feeling ruining the G8 leaders' summit.
The G8 foreign ministers' meetings here begin Wednesday after a Japanese tea ceremony, followed by a working dinner. Final discussions will be held Thursday morning.
The lengthy agenda also includes East Timor, the Balkans, efforts to reduce the availability of small weapons and reform of the United Nations Security Council, where Japan wants a permanent seat, sources here said.
The G8 meeting was expected to urge India and Pakistan to sign a nuclear non-proliferation treaty.
But the eight powers decided to avoid discussing relations between China and Taiwan, which Beijing considers to be a wayward province, said the Nihon Keizai Shimbun business daily.
"Both China and Taiwan are now showing self-restraint. Putting the issue on the agenda would merely irritate China," a senior foreign ministry official was quoted as saying.
G8 ministers are also to meet with their counterparts from South Africa and other members of the non-aligned movement on Thursday, a foreign ministry source said -- MIYAZAKI, Japan (AFP)
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