As Japan pledges more aid to Ukraine, will Tokyo become an 'ATM' for a war-torn country?

Japan has identified seven priority assistance areas, including the energy sector, improving humanitarian conditions, and investing in agricultural development.

Heavy engineering company IHI – one of about 50 private sector companies scheduled to attend the conference – plans to provide temporary bridges that are easy to assemble and will replace bridges destroyed during the fighting. The company also plans to set up a manufacturing facility in neighboring Romania and transport components to Ukraine for final assembly.

Japan is also helping to fund the establishment of a new department at the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute for safe location education and landmine clearance.

Japan faces a “nightmare scenario” in which Russia and China could destabilize the US-led order

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will also attend the conference, saying at a preparatory meeting on January 30: “We have positioned recovery and reconstruction as a unique contribution pillar for Japan.

“It is important that the public and private sectors work as one entity to provide support through a whole-of-Japan approach, including small and medium-sized enterprises and startups, not to mention large corporations.”

Japan has provided anti-mine technology, medical equipment, helmets, body armor and other non-lethal military equipment to Ukraine. Despite pressure earlier in the conflict to provide weapons to Kiev, Kishida explained that provisions of the constitution make it impossible to provide lethal equipment.

US soldiers load Japanese defense equipment onto a US plane before sending it to Ukraine, at US Yokota Air Base, near Fusa on the outskirts of Tokyo. Photo: AP

However, Ukraine has welcomed Japan's initiative, with Prime Minister Denis Shmyhal telling Kyodo News on Saturday that his country is “interested in comprehensive cooperation with Japanese companies” and that he sees “huge potential” for the relationship between Japanese companies and Ukraine.

Shmyhal expressed his hope that Japanese automakers would share their expertise with companies in Ukraine and that others would invest in extracting and processing minerals and other vital raw materials. Kiev also hopes to get help in the nuclear energy sector.

After nearly two years of war, the amount of economic support required has become enormous. Last year, the World Bank estimated that the recovery would cost $411 billion over the next decade – meaning that the $105 million that Tokyo will allocate will be a small fraction of the amount needed.

This is not liked by many Japanese people.

Japan is seeking to relax arms export rules in a bid to be a “good actor” in the Ukraine war

“My feeling is that Japan, under the Kishida administration, has become an ATM machine that dispenses cash unprincipled,” said Yoichi Shimada, a professor of international relations at Fukui Prefectural University.

“The amount of taxes collected by the Japanese government each year is limited, and the government's responsibility should be to provide for the needs of the Japanese people and defend the nation,” he told This Week in Asia magazine. He added: “It is irresponsible for Japan to provide more money to Ukraine.”

Shimada believes that Russian President Vladimir Putin was wrong to invade Ukraine and that Russian forces are responsible for widespread destruction and misery, but Tokyo needs to focus on its priorities. “We need to make more money available to help the people of the Noto Peninsula recover from the January 1 earthquake, but at a more fundamental level, we have to recognize that Ukraine is located in a geographical area where European member states have to “NATO has to take over. This means that we have to be ready and able to defend Taiwan, and therefore the Japanese islands.” “There has to be a better division of labor, and on that, I find myself agreeing with him.” [former US President Donald] Trump. A man stands in front of his fire-ravaged house in Wajima City, Ishikawa Prefecture on February 1, a month after a major earthquake struck the Noto area. Photo: Agence France-Presse

Koichi Nakano, a professor of politics at Sophia University in Tokyo, agrees that a degree of “war weariness” has spread among the general public in Japan as the conflict drags on with few chances of ending the fighting.

Since Japan is not a member of NATO or part of Europe, many people in Japan feel it is unreasonable for European powers to pressure Japan to contribute more.

“There are some hawkish optimists who claim that Japan needs to show its commitment to Europe because that means those countries will come to our aid in East Asia if we need them in the future, but it is naive to believe that,” Nakano said. .

“People here are not happy about the idea that Putin could get away with such aggression, but, like many people in the United States, the Japanese public have become less eager to provide further support for Ukraine because they see no way out.

“There is a feeling that we need to be less ideological and more realistic.”

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