Prime Minister Fumio Kishida used Friday's anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine to reiterate his desire to visit the war-torn country and announce that Japan was preparing fresh Group of Seven sanctions on Moscow.
“Feb. 24 is a day we will never forget,” Kishida told a news conference. “It is a day that must not be forgotten.”
Kishida — the sole G7 leader yet to visit Ukraine since the invasion began — said that while he hoped to travel to the country soon, nothing had been decided yet, with discussions ongoing.
At his news conference, Kishida largely focused on noting Japan’s response to the war, saying that Tokyo would also “present ideas for new sanctions” for discussion during a G7 online conference later Friday.
Kishida also implicitly singled out China following U.S. claims that Beijing could be preparing to send military aid to Moscow for its war effort, noting a recent G7 foreign ministerial statement that called on third parties to suspend their support for Russian forces.
“I believe it is important to send a clear message to the international community in close cooperation with the G7 and other countries concerned,” he said. “Japan must also continue to send out messages regarding the response by third countries.”
The news conference came hours before Japan — which will host a G7 summit in Kishida’s Hiroshima constituency in May — chairs the online leaders conference, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also scheduled to take part.
On Monday, Kishida announced a pledge to send an additional $5.5 billion (about ¥742 billion) to Ukraine, bringing Japan’s total aid to $7 billion.
Although Zelenskyy sent a video message to parliament last March, the two leaders have never met in person. But serious logistical and security hurdles remain before any visit by Kishida can be realized.
Ukrainian Ambassador to Japan Sergiy Korsunsky, told reporters earlier Friday that it was “extremely important” for Kishida to visit his country and see how the war is unfolding “with his own eyes.”
Since the war’s start, Japan has acted in lockstep with other G7 countries, firmly condemning Moscow’s aggression, imposing onerous sanctions on Russia and accepting an unusually high number of refugees fleeing the conflict.
Speaking to the United Nations on Thursday, Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi demanded that Russia withdraw its troops from Ukraine, saying any deal that involved giving Russia occupied Ukrainian territory would be “an unjust peace.”
“It would be a victory for the aggressor if such actions were tolerated. It would set a terrible precedent for the rest of the planet,” Hayashi said.
As Japan took over as G7 chair in January and started a fresh term as a nonpermanent member of the U.N. Security Council, Kishida embarked on a diplomatic tour to other G7 member countries, where he emphasized Japan’s unwavering support for Ukraine and its people.
The White House has welcomed Japan’s renewed commitment to supporting Ukraine, with press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Thursday calling Tokyo “a steadfast ally ready to step up and do its part to advance our shared interests and values.”
“Our alliance with Japan and Japan’s strong partnerships with countries in Europe only demonstrate the point we've been making all along: The Indo-Pacific and the Atlantic are not separate theaters here but firmly linked together,” Jean-Pierre told a news conference.
However, Tokyo’s support for Kyiv is dwarfed by that of the U.S. and European nations.
Before the $5.5 billion pledge, Japan had devoted only 0.0022% of its gross domestic product to aid for Ukraine, compared with 0.367% from Washington and 0.316% from London, according to an analysis by the Kiel Institute of the World Economy.
Japan’s aid has come mostly in the form of humanitarian and financial support, as the country is effectively barred from delivering military assistance under its three principles on the transfer of defense equipment and technology abroad.
Japan has so far provided only nonlethal equipment to Kyiv, including vests, helmets and surveillance drones, but with the revision of key security documents in December, the country has officially begun considering a full-fledged review of the three principles.
Russia’s aggression in Ukraine — and fears that China could take a page from the war and invade Taiwan — provided the key impetus for the drastic shift in Japan’s defense and security policies.
At a news conference Friday, Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada reaffirmed that the government is currently weighing a substantial revision to the three principles.
“The transfer of defense equipment is an important policy tool to create a desirable security environment for our country by deterring unilateral changes in the status quo by force, especially in the Indo-Pacific region, and (would allow Japan to) provide assistance to countries like Ukraine that are being subjected to aggression in violation of international law,” Hamada told a news conference Friday, Japan Times reports.
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