Helps Kiev and distances itself from Moscow – DW – 04/14/2024

When Europe talks about aid to Ukraine it looks towards itself and its main donor, the United States. But in Washington, Republicans and Democrats have not agreed on a new aid package for Kiev for months. In view of this, like other countries, Japan has also increased its participation through financial assistance. According to the Ukrainian Finance Ministry, without making any major announcements, Tokyo has become one of Kyiv’s largest donors, and even its largest donor in the first months of 2024.

Millions in aid, but no weapons

At a conference in Japan in February, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmyhal said that the provided and promised aid would exceed $12 billion. According to the Kiel Institute of the World Economy, Japan ranked sixth with international aid to Ukraine in January amounting to more than seven billion euros.

Japanese money is helping keep the Ukrainian economy running. The National Bank estimates that Ukraine has lost a third of its GDP since the Russian invasion. For historical reasons and due to national legal restrictions, Tokyo cannot supply lethal weapons to Kiev. Therefore, supplies include food, medicine, generators, cars, bulletproof vests and demining equipment.

Delivery of missiles to America

However, the most important thing for Kiev is to obtain weapons. Despite its constitutionally enshrined pacifism, Japan can help. The Japanese press wrote about the possible delivery to the United States of missiles manufactured under license in Japan for American Patriot air defense systems, so that Washington could deliver its missiles to Ukraine. Russian Foreign Ministry representatives said the presence of Japanese missiles in Ukraine would have “consequences” on Moscow’s relations with Tokyo.

Professor Atsuko Higashino of the University of Tsukuba is in favor of such delivery, as the missiles are weapons “not to kill, but to protect the Ukrainian people.” However, Higashino does not believe such deliveries can be expected “in the near future”, as Japan has “severe deficiencies” in defense systems. James Brown, a professor at Temple University in Tokyo, believes there is already “large agreement” on the delivery of Patriot missiles to the US and that the delay is due to Japanese regulations. It is very important for Japan that Japanese missiles do not fall into Ukraine.

“Radical change” in relations with Russia.

But how has Japan become one of Ukraine’s most important partners? “By helping Ukraine and countering Russian aggression, Japan is thinking about how it can protect the international order from a violent change in the status quo,” says Brown. Japan is “trying to prevent China from making similar efforts against Taiwan.” Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida also talked about this with United States President Joe Biden at the trilateral summit on the Indo-Pacific held in Washington.

According to Atsuko Higashino, Japan’s attitude toward Ukraine and Russia “has changed radically.” He claims that while Japan accepted the “illegal annexation of Crimea” and “Russian propaganda” in 2014, everything changed with the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Higashino believes this is due to, among other things, a “blatant violation of the UN Charter” and the “brutality” of Russian forces in Bucha, near Kiev.

Japan involved in LNG project

Changes at the top of the government have also contributed to this. He says, “Under the previous leadership of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Japan was very interested in reaching out to Russia and aimed to establish a partnership, resolve the territorial dispute (over the Kuril Islands) and sign a peace treaty. ” James Brown. “But after 2022, the Japanese government realized that these efforts would not work. Instead, priority was given not to building a partnership with Russia, but to ensuring the failure of Russian aggression against Ukraine.”

Atsuko Higashino says, unlike Abe, Prime Minister Kishida has moved toward “far-reaching sanctions against Russia.” “This was absolutely unimaginable before,” says the political analyst. However, Japan has not decided to completely sever relations with Moscow. There are exceptions in some sectors of the economy, notably the energy sector. Japanese car companies have withdrawn from the lucrative Russian market, but Japan remains involved in the Sakhalin-2 oil and gas project, although other Western companies are no longer involved. The project supplies liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Japan. Japan, which has virtually no fossil fuels of its own, gets about 9 percent of its LNG from Russia. Japan Tobacco also continues to operate in Russia.

As a sign of support for Tokyo, the Ukrainian Parliament approved a decree in October 2022 in which Kiev took Tokyo’s side in the Russian-Japanese dispute over the Kuril Islands. The decree stipulates that the “Northern Territory”, as the islands are called in Japan, “shall remain under the occupation of the Russian Federation.” President Volodymyr Zelensky also signed a similar decree.

(MN/DZ)