TOKYO — Japan imposed new sanctions against Russia on Tuesday that were more limited than those announced last month by the United States, a move that analysts said illustrates Tokyo’s conflicting desires to show solidarity with Washington while also keeping the door open to improving ties with Moscow.
The new measures adopted by the cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will freeze assets in Japan of two groups and 40 individuals involved in Russia’s intervention in Ukraine, including the former Ukrainian president, Viktor F. Yanukovych. They will also restrict imports of products made in Crimea, whose annexation by Russia earlier this year has been opposed by the West.
The top Japanese government spokesman, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, said the measures were in line with those taken by other industrialized nations and particularly the European Union, which last month also announced a new round of sanctions that were less severe than those imposed by the Obama administration. While the latest American sanctions were broadly aimed at punishing Russia’s financial, energy and defense industries, many of the European measures were narrowly targeted at individuals, an approach emulated by Japan.
“Japan will coordinate with first the G-7 and also the international community in pursuing a peaceful, diplomatic solution to the current state of affairs in Ukraine,” Mr. Suga told reporters, referring to the Group of Seven nations: Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.
However, by stressing that his nation was following other industrialized nations, Japanese diplomatic analysts said Mr. Suga seemed to be saying that Japan does not seek a total freeze in ties with Russia, and remains open to talking with Moscow about other issues. Mr. Abe has also seemed to send similarly mixed signals, indicating over the weekend that while he was working with other developed nations to resolve the crisis, he had not canceled an invitation to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to visit Japan this autumn.
“Japan is sending the message that we are not enthusiastic about these sanctions,” said Yoshiki Mine, a research director at The Canon Institute for Global Studies in Tokyo and a former high-ranking Japanese diplomat. “Japan needs to show it shares the same values as the West, but it also wants to keep an opening with Russia. Even if Mr. Putin cannot come this year, maybe he can come next year, or the year after.”
Mr. Mine and others said Japan’s apparent hesitation to impose even limited sanctions on Russia underscores the difficult balancing act Mr. Abe faces.
On the one hand, analysts said, Mr. Abe wants to avoid falling too far behind the United States and the European Union in punishing Moscow, especially after pro-Russian rebels appeared to be behind the downing of a Malaysia Airlines jet last month, which killed all 298 onboard. Indeed, since Mr. Abe took office a year and a half ago, one of the signature goals of his administration has been raising Japan’s profile in international affairs, while also strengthening ties with the United States. These have been the main public rationales for some of his most controversial moves, particularly unshackling the Japanese military from its post-World War II pacifist restrictions.
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But at the same time, he also appears unwilling to completely alienate Russia, say analysts, because that country offers the rare and tantalizing prospect of achieving a diplomatic success of the sort that has eluded him. Mr. Abe’s nationalistic tendencies have so far threatened to isolate him and his nation in the region.
Analysts say Mr. Abe sees a chance to go down in history as the leader who finally resolved one of Japan’s most stubborn diplomatic disputes, a festering territorial disagreement that has divided Japan and Russia for almost seven decades, preventing the nations from even signing a formal peace treaty to end World War II.
The disputed territory — three islands and a tiny group of islets off Japan’s northern coast — was controlled by Japan until it was occupied by Soviet troops after Japan’s surrender in 1945, a fact that still rankles Japanese nationalists.
Analysts say both sides have new incentives to make a deal. Since the Fukushima accident forced Japan to wean itself from nuclear power, there has been a renewed desire in Tokyo to find alternatives sources of natural gas and other energy beyond the volatile Middle East. And even before the Crimean crisis, Mr. Putin was starting to “look east” for new buyers of Russian energy — and new sources of investment capital to help build up Russian infrastructure — to reduce economic dependence on Western Europe.
Hopes of a breakthrough began to grow when both Mr. Abe and Mr. Putin seemed to signal greater willingness than their predecessors to talk about the territorial dispute. Analysts said there had been expectations that Mr. Abe and Mr. Putin, two popular leaders with impeccable patriotic credentials, could finally overcome resistance to a compromise by conservatives in both nations.
This helped lead to a noticeable thawing in long-frozen ties, with Mr. Abe meeting Mr. Putin five times since taking office, most recently in February during the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. This is in stark contrast to Japan’s souring relations with neighboring South Korea and China, whose leaders have been reluctant to even meet with Mr. Abe because of what they see as his revisionist views on Japan’s bloody wartime empire-building.
Since the conflict in Ukraine, some Japanese have watched anxiously as Mr. Putin signed a massive contract in May to supply China with $400 billion worth of natural gas. Analysts said there are fears that Russia could retaliate to sanctions by canceling joint energy projects with Japan, like one to produce liquified natural gas on the Russian island of Sakhalin.
“We see China and also South Korea developing new energy cooperation with Russia,” said Nobuo Shimotomai, an expert on Russo-Japanese relations at Hosei University in Tokyo. “Japan does not want to be left behind.”
Instead, analysts said Russia has tried to drive a wedge between Tokyo and Washington. After Japan’s new sanctions were first announced last week, the Russian foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, called on Japan to show more independence from the United States, while also saying that Mr. Putin’s visit to Japan was still on, so far as Russia was concerned. The dates for that visit have yet to be set.
But in the end, analysts said, Japan has no choice but to toe the line with the United States. For one, they said, Japan cannot afford to condone a territorial grab by Russia at a time when China is making increasingly forceful claims in a separate dispute over islands currently controlled by Japan. But just as importantly, say analysts, Japan must stay close to Washington, whose military power remains the best check on China’s new assertiveness on territorial issues.
“Mr. Abe was taking an overly optimistic view of what he could accomplish with Russia,” said Mr. Mine, the former diplomat. “The Crimean crisis has forced him to take a more serious look at the geopolitical realities.”
Reference: The New York Times
The new measures adopted by the cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will freeze assets in Japan of two groups and 40 individuals involved in Russia’s intervention in Ukraine, including the former Ukrainian president, Viktor F. Yanukovych. They will also restrict imports of products made in Crimea, whose annexation by Russia earlier this year has been opposed by the West.
The top Japanese government spokesman, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, said the measures were in line with those taken by other industrialized nations and particularly the European Union, which last month also announced a new round of sanctions that were less severe than those imposed by the Obama administration. While the latest American sanctions were broadly aimed at punishing Russia’s financial, energy and defense industries, many of the European measures were narrowly targeted at individuals, an approach emulated by Japan.
“Japan will coordinate with first the G-7 and also the international community in pursuing a peaceful, diplomatic solution to the current state of affairs in Ukraine,” Mr. Suga told reporters, referring to the Group of Seven nations: Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.
However, by stressing that his nation was following other industrialized nations, Japanese diplomatic analysts said Mr. Suga seemed to be saying that Japan does not seek a total freeze in ties with Russia, and remains open to talking with Moscow about other issues. Mr. Abe has also seemed to send similarly mixed signals, indicating over the weekend that while he was working with other developed nations to resolve the crisis, he had not canceled an invitation to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to visit Japan this autumn.
“Japan is sending the message that we are not enthusiastic about these sanctions,” said Yoshiki Mine, a research director at The Canon Institute for Global Studies in Tokyo and a former high-ranking Japanese diplomat. “Japan needs to show it shares the same values as the West, but it also wants to keep an opening with Russia. Even if Mr. Putin cannot come this year, maybe he can come next year, or the year after.”
Mr. Mine and others said Japan’s apparent hesitation to impose even limited sanctions on Russia underscores the difficult balancing act Mr. Abe faces.
On the one hand, analysts said, Mr. Abe wants to avoid falling too far behind the United States and the European Union in punishing Moscow, especially after pro-Russian rebels appeared to be behind the downing of a Malaysia Airlines jet last month, which killed all 298 onboard. Indeed, since Mr. Abe took office a year and a half ago, one of the signature goals of his administration has been raising Japan’s profile in international affairs, while also strengthening ties with the United States. These have been the main public rationales for some of his most controversial moves, particularly unshackling the Japanese military from its post-World War II pacifist restrictions.
Continue reading the main story Continue reading the main story
But at the same time, he also appears unwilling to completely alienate Russia, say analysts, because that country offers the rare and tantalizing prospect of achieving a diplomatic success of the sort that has eluded him. Mr. Abe’s nationalistic tendencies have so far threatened to isolate him and his nation in the region.
Analysts say Mr. Abe sees a chance to go down in history as the leader who finally resolved one of Japan’s most stubborn diplomatic disputes, a festering territorial disagreement that has divided Japan and Russia for almost seven decades, preventing the nations from even signing a formal peace treaty to end World War II.
The disputed territory — three islands and a tiny group of islets off Japan’s northern coast — was controlled by Japan until it was occupied by Soviet troops after Japan’s surrender in 1945, a fact that still rankles Japanese nationalists.
Analysts say both sides have new incentives to make a deal. Since the Fukushima accident forced Japan to wean itself from nuclear power, there has been a renewed desire in Tokyo to find alternatives sources of natural gas and other energy beyond the volatile Middle East. And even before the Crimean crisis, Mr. Putin was starting to “look east” for new buyers of Russian energy — and new sources of investment capital to help build up Russian infrastructure — to reduce economic dependence on Western Europe.
Hopes of a breakthrough began to grow when both Mr. Abe and Mr. Putin seemed to signal greater willingness than their predecessors to talk about the territorial dispute. Analysts said there had been expectations that Mr. Abe and Mr. Putin, two popular leaders with impeccable patriotic credentials, could finally overcome resistance to a compromise by conservatives in both nations.
This helped lead to a noticeable thawing in long-frozen ties, with Mr. Abe meeting Mr. Putin five times since taking office, most recently in February during the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. This is in stark contrast to Japan’s souring relations with neighboring South Korea and China, whose leaders have been reluctant to even meet with Mr. Abe because of what they see as his revisionist views on Japan’s bloody wartime empire-building.
Since the conflict in Ukraine, some Japanese have watched anxiously as Mr. Putin signed a massive contract in May to supply China with $400 billion worth of natural gas. Analysts said there are fears that Russia could retaliate to sanctions by canceling joint energy projects with Japan, like one to produce liquified natural gas on the Russian island of Sakhalin.
“We see China and also South Korea developing new energy cooperation with Russia,” said Nobuo Shimotomai, an expert on Russo-Japanese relations at Hosei University in Tokyo. “Japan does not want to be left behind.”
Instead, analysts said Russia has tried to drive a wedge between Tokyo and Washington. After Japan’s new sanctions were first announced last week, the Russian foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, called on Japan to show more independence from the United States, while also saying that Mr. Putin’s visit to Japan was still on, so far as Russia was concerned. The dates for that visit have yet to be set.
But in the end, analysts said, Japan has no choice but to toe the line with the United States. For one, they said, Japan cannot afford to condone a territorial grab by Russia at a time when China is making increasingly forceful claims in a separate dispute over islands currently controlled by Japan. But just as importantly, say analysts, Japan must stay close to Washington, whose military power remains the best check on China’s new assertiveness on territorial issues.
“Mr. Abe was taking an overly optimistic view of what he could accomplish with Russia,” said Mr. Mine, the former diplomat. “The Crimean crisis has forced him to take a more serious look at the geopolitical realities.”
Reference: The New York Times
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