2024-04-21 13:29:48
These last months,UNITED STATESPolitical circles because of military aidUkraineThe issue continues to be debated and approval of a new round of aid worth billions of dollars has been delayed. When it comes to helping Ukraine, European countries tend to wait until they know the United States’ position before acting appropriately. Faced with hesitation in Europe and the United States,JapanThe share of foreign aid funds going to Ukraine has increased significantly. According to data from the Ukrainian Ministry of Finance, Japan quietly became one of kyiv’s main sponsors in the first quarter of this year.
When Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal visited Japan in February this year, he revealed that Japan had provided and pledged aid totaling $12 billion. According to statistics from the Institute of World Economy at Kiel University in Germany, as of January this year, Japan has provided more than $7 billion in aid to Japan, ranking sixth in the world.
Further reading: Japanese foreign minister visits Ukraine, says supportive stance remains unchanged
At present, the reason why the Ukrainian economy can maintain its functioning depends to a large extent on “blood transfusions” from various countries.The Central Bank of Ukraine believes that sinceRusso-Ukrainian WarSince the start of the epidemic, the country’s GDP has fallen by around a third. Although unable to deliver lethal weapons to Ukraine due to its status as a defeated country in World War II, food, medicine, generators, vehicles, body armor and equipment mining supplies supplied by Japan to Ukraine nevertheless played a huge role.
Aren’t anti-aircraft missiles considered “lethal weapons”?
However, what Ukraine urgently needs most is weapons and ammunition. Can Japan circumvent the restrictions of the pacifist constitution in this regard? According to Japanese media, Japanese companies might produce a batch of “Patriot” anti-aircraft missiles for the United States, and then the United States would transfer these missiles to Ukraine.
In response to this news, Moscow issued a warning: the discovery of Japanese-produced missiles in Ukraine will impact Russian-Japanese relations. Years of researchRussiaAtsuko Higashino, professor of political science at the University of Tsukuba in Japan, concerned regarding the Ukrainian issue, emphasized that Patriot anti-aircraft missiles are not deadly weapons, but they protect the Ukrainian people from danger. However, she also admitted that since Japan itself is in dire need of anti-aircraft missiles, Japan will not provide such weapons to foreign countries in the short term.
James Brown, an expert on Japan-Russia relations at Temple University of Japan, pointed out that the supply of Patriot air defense missiles to the United States was widely recognized by all walks of life in Japan. He also stressed that it is very important that Japan does not hand over these missiles directly to Ukraine.
In an interview with Deutsche Welle, the political science professor said: “When Japan helped Ukraine and helped resist Russian aggression, its real intention was to maintain an international system capable of preventing use of force to change the status quo. Brown believes Japan must also prevent China from using force to change the status quo across the Taiwan Strait.
A few days ago, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida discussed how to handle the China issue with the presidents of the United States and the Philippines in Washington. According to the observation of Atsuko Higashino, an expert on Russian-Ukrainian issues, in 2014, Japan acquiesced in Russia’s illegal annexation of the Crimean Peninsula and the propaganda that followed. However, following the outbreak of war in 2022,TokyoThe attitude towards Russia and Ukraine has changed dramatically. She believes this is mainly because Russia’s aggressive behavior “blatantly violates the United Nations Charter” and the brutal behavior of the Russian army in Bucha and elsewhere has been exposed.
Why has Japan’s position changed?
Political scientist Brown also pointed out that the change in leadership also had an impact on Tokyo’s position on the Russian-Ukrainian issue. “When Shinzo Abe was in power, Japan strongly condemned Moscow, but its real goal was to try to develop a Japan-Russia partnership to resolve territorial disputes between the two countries and sign a peace treaty. However, following 2022 , the Japanese government has realized that these efforts will not really work, Tokyo’s priority is no longer to build a Japan-Russia partnership, but to ensure that Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine will fail.
Atsuko Higashino also told DW that Fumio Kishida’s cabinet “imposed very harsh sanctions on Russia,” which was unimaginable during Shinzo Abe’s era.
Ukraine also reciprocated Tokyo. In October 2022, Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada (parliament) adopted a resolution to support Tokyo in the territorial dispute between Japan and Russia over the Kuril Islands. According to the resolution, Ukrainian officials defined the disputed islands as “Japanese territory occupied by Russia.” President Zelensky then signed the corresponding decree.
However, Japan has not completely severed ties with Russia. Even though Japanese automakers have withdrawn from the large Russian market, there are still many exceptions in areas like energy. For example, unlike Western countries, Japan is still participating in the Sakhalin 2 oil and gas project led by Gazprom. The project supplies liquefied natural gas to Russia. Japan has virtually no domestic oil and gas resources and 9% of its natural gas supply comes from Russia.
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