French President Nicolas Sarkozy is suggesting future meetings of the G8, the world's wealthiest and most influential club of nations, may need to expand.

At an appearance in Paris on Saturday in advance of Monday's summit in Hokkaido, Japan, Sarkozy said the G8 summits are currently "not reasonable" because they do not include at least two of the largest developing powers.

"I think it is not reasonable to continue to meet as eight to solve the big questions of the world, forgetting China -- one billion 300 million people -- and not inviting India -- one billion people," Sarkozy reportedly said.

He noted in a speech to his conservative political followers that no Latin American, Arab or African nation belongs to the G8.

Meanwhile, the upcoming summit has already become the focus of protests.

Japanese police arrested four people in Sapporo on Saturday following a brief scuffle, but there were no reports of injuries.

The clash occurred when a protester driving a pickup truck carrying speakers blaring rock music stopped. Police urged him to roll down his window, but he refused and backed the truck into the crowd.

Police then smashed the truck's window with a baton, pulled out the driver and seized control of the truck.

The police refused to release the names or nationalities of the individuals they arrested.

There were thousands of riot police lining the protest route.

More than 1,000 took part in the demonstration to call for action on global warming, more rights for indigenous people and the fight against global poverty.

"Who gave the Group of Eight the right to rule the world?" asked Walden Bello of the activist group Focus on the Global South. "The G8 is a conspiracy of governments that have led the world to its most severe crisis in the last 50 years."

The protesters also took aim at globalization, blaming it for deepening poverty, increasing dependence on fossil fuels and driving the Earth's temperature upwards.

When the leaders of United States, Japan, Russia, France, Britain, Canada, Italy and Germany meet, they are expected to treat the following as priorities: Global warming and the rapid rise in oil and food prices.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is travelling to Japan. He has a public event scheduled there for Monday in advance of the summit's start. Environment Minister John Baird is also expected to make the trip.

Harper is expected to argue that any global climate deal must include emerging nations like China and India along with the United States.

With files from The Associated Press