Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced on Monday, February 20th, that Tokyo is ready to offer another $5.5 billion (€5.15 billion) in financial aid to Ukraine ahead of the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion, reported the Japan Times.
Japan joined Western sanctions against Russia at the beginning of the war and has previously provided Ukraine with over $600 million worth of direct financial support, along with hundreds of millions worth of emergency humanitarian assistance.
But “there is still a need to assist people whose livelihoods have been destroyed by the war, and to restore destroyed infrastructure,” the prime minister said in his speech given in front of a think tank symposium. “We have decided to provide additional financial support of $5.5 billion.”
According to the Kiel Institute’s ‘Ukraine Support Tracker’, as of January 15th, governments around the world have pledged €143.6 billion for Ukraine (€73.2 billion coming from the U.S., €54.9 billion from EU members and institutions, and €15.5 billion from other countries, including Japan).
Holding this year’s Group of Seven’s presidency, Kishida also announced that he will call a video conference with the G7 leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday, the day of the invasion’s one-year anniversary. An in-person meeting of the G7 leaders is expected to take place in Hiroshima in May.
“This year, Japan, as G7 president and a non-permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, will support Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression and lead the world’s efforts to uphold a free and open international order based on the rule of law,” Kishida underlined in his speech.
Kishida’s strong stance on the war in Ukraine appears to have the backing of much of the Japanese public. A recent Nikkei poll found that 66% of respondents think the government should continue to support Ukraine, even if that causes “adverse effects on their own lives,” and 71% think that the sanctions against Russia should be strengthened. The share of responders who would want enhanced cooperation with the United States reached record levels.
Standing up to Russia regarding Ukraine is seen as a direct security imperative by many in Japan, who think that failing to do so would only embolden China to make a similar move against Taiwan, an island that’s key to Japan’s own security.
