Japan, Thai PMs meet over Ukraine crisis, defence cooperation

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha met Monday to discuss the war in Ukraine and bolstering bilateral defence and economic cooperation.

Russia’s invasion of its neighbour has been one of the major agenda items for Kishida on his five-nation tour of Southeast Asia and Europe, which has already taken him to Indonesia and Vietnam.

Those two countries and Thailand have been cautious about joining efforts mainly led by Group of Seven nations to economically and diplomatically isolate Russia in response to its aggression.

In a sign of deepening defence cooperation, meanwhile, Japan and Thailand are seeking to reach an agreement on the transfer of Japanese defence equipment, officials said. Japan already has such deals with other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations including the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Japan has been deepening ties with Asean nations as it seeks to promote its vision of a “free and open” Indo-Pacific region to counter increasing Chinese assertiveness. The Japanese and Thai leaders are also expected to discuss the situation in Myanmar after the military coup in 2021 and North Korea’s nuclear and missile ambitions.

Thailand is the chair of the Asia-Pacific Economic form this year, which Russia is also a member of, apparently contributing to Bangkok’s neutral stance toward Moscow and its invasion of Ukraine. Thailand last month abstained in a vote to suspend Russia from the UN Human Rights Council.

Kishida has stressed the need to keep communicating with other Asian nations that “cannot take the same action” as the G-7, which includes Japan and the United States. The G-7 has imposed a slew of sanctions to punish Moscow.