Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was heading to Kyiv early Tuesday for talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that coincide with the Chinese leader’s visit to Moscow.
Kishida will “show respect to the courage and patience of the Ukrainian people who find themselves standing as much as defend their homeland under President Zelensky’s leadership, and show solidarity and unwavering support for Ukraine as head of Japan and chairman of G-7,” during his visit to Ukraine, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said in announcing his trip to Kyiv.
On the talks, Kishida will show his “absolute rejection to Russia’s one-sided change to the establishment by invasion and force, and to affirm his commitment to defend the rules-based international order,” the ministry’s statement said.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping, meanwhile, is in Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin warmly welcomed Xi to the Kremlin on a visit each nations describe as a possibility to deepen their “no-limits friendship.”
Japan’s public television NHK showed Kishida riding a train from Poland heading to Kyiv. His surprise trip to Ukraine comes just hours after he met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Latest Delhi.
Kishida, who’s to chair the Group of Seven summit in May, is the one G-7 leader who hasn’t visited Ukraine and was under pressure to accomplish that at home. U.S. President Joe Biden took the same route to go to Kyiv last month, just before the primary anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
On account of limitations of Japan’s pacifist structure, his trip was arranged secretly. Kishida is Japan’s first postwar leader to enter a war zone. Kishida, invited by Zelensky in January to go to Kyiv, was also asked before his trip to India a few rumor of his possible trip at the tip of March, denied it and said nothing concrete has been decided.
Japan has joined the US and European nations in sanctioning Russia over its invasion and providing humanitarian and economic support for Ukraine.
Japan was quick to react since it fears the possible impact of a war in East Asia, where China’s military has grown increasingly assertive and has escalated tensions around self-ruled Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its territory.
Kishida is predicted to supply continuing support for Ukraine when he meets with Zelensky.
Television footage on NHK showed Kishida getting on a train from the Polish station of Przemysl near the border with Ukraine, with various officials.
On account of its pacifist principles, Japan’s support for Ukraine has also been limited to non-combative military equipment reminiscent of helmets, bulletproof vests and drones, and humanitarian supplies including generators.
Japan has contributed to Ukraine greater than $7 billion, and accepted greater than 2,000 displaced Ukrainians and helped them with housing assistance and support for jobs and education — a rare move for a rustic that is understood for its strict immigration policy.
