Japan’s strong Ukraine response could reshape defence strategy amid China’s moves on Taiwan, Diaoyu Islands
- When Russia pushed into Ukraine in 2014, Japan’s response was seen as lukewarm, but this time it’s in lockstep with Western allies on unprecedented sanctions and tough rhetoric
- Tokyo’s move comes amid China’s growing ambitions in the region, including Beijing’s desire to ‘reunify’ Taiwan and its claims to disputed islands it calls the Diaoyus
And the crisis is already impacting debates on security spending and capacity in a country whose constitution limits its military to defence.
“Japan has been accused before of paying its way out, in a way, just giving money but not being directly involved in any crisis,” said Valerie Niquet, an Asia expert at France’s Foundation for Strategic Research think tank.
This time, Tokyo is “putting a lot of emphasis on what they are doing … to show that they are not just sitting by and waiting to see how things will evolve”.
And the speed with which Tokyo has moved on measures such as individual sanctions has been “completely remarkable”, said Tobias Harris, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress.
“This is much further than I thought we would see the Japanese government go,” he said.