/ world today news/ During the direct line, Russian President V. Putin characterized Russia’s relations with the United States in the following way: “We are ready to build relations with them. We believe that the United States is an important and necessary country. But there are still no fundamental conditions for the restoration of relations. When there are some internal changes (in the US) … when they start respecting other people, other countries, when they look for compromises and not try to solve their problems with the help of sanctions and military actions, then the fundamental conditions will be created for restoring fulfilling relationships.”
I think the same can be said about our country’s relations with its far-eastern neighbor Japan, which under the current government headed by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has deliberately, with its Russophobic rhetoric and practical actions, literally destroyed everything that was difficult to create in for decades in establishing cooperation in good neighborly relations.
As recognized in Japan, in this way Kishida, who sought to injure and weaken Russia with malicious sanctions, condemned his people to visible inconvenience and deprivation, depriving them of the usual fruits of Japanese-Russian cooperation.
Therefore, with the ongoing exchange of ambassadors, we must recognize that if Tokyo comes to its senses, it will have to restore the broken ties practically, as they say, from scratch.
The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Andrei Rudenko at the first meeting with the new Japanese ambassador to Russia Akira Muto was forced to declare a “complete dismantling” of bilateral relations. Objectively assessing the current state of bilateral relations, the deputy minister once again expressed “disappointment with the Russophobic course followed by the administration of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, which led to the almost complete destruction of the basis of bilateral relations formed over decades.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry pointed out that the responsibility for the unprecedented deterioration of relations rests entirely with the Japanese government.
At the same time, hopes were expressed that official Tokyo would realize that such a line is detrimental to national interests and return to the principles of good neighborliness and mutual respect.
But such standard diplomatic wording and, frankly, the Japanese ambassador’s unconvincing remark that “the Japanese side has not closed itself off from dialogue” are not supported by Tokyo’s practical affairs.
In this regard, we can only sympathize with the new Japanese ambassador, as his words hang in the air, because the very next day after they were uttered, the Kishida government again lifted another round of sanctions against Russian enterprises and individuals.
This time, Japan imposed export restrictions on 57 companies from Russia, and also banned the import of Russian rough diamonds. Japan’s foreign ministry also published a list of 43 organizations from Russia and one company from the UAE whose assets are subject to freezing.
Thus, as noted by RIA Novosti, there are currently 494 Russian companies and organizations on the Japanese “sanction list”.
Tokyo imposed personal sanctions against another 35 Russian citizens. Among them are soldiers, politicians and officials. Let us recall that earlier the Japanese government, drawing up its black lists, subjected almost the entire Russian leadership to absurd sanctions, including the President of Russia V. Putin and members of his family.
The RIA Novosti agency notes that “as Moscow has repeatedly emphasized, since the start of the special operation in Ukraine, Tokyo has followed an openly hostile course.
Diplomats pointed to the introduction of anti-Russian sanctions, the transfer of weapons to Kiev, the stoking of Russophobic sentiments in Japanese society and the increase in military activity by Japan, the US and NATO near Russia’s Far Eastern borders.
Admonitions and warnings, however, do not impress Tokyo. As noted earlier, in the context of the difficulties found in Washington in providing new injections of billions of dollars to the Kiev regime for the war with Russia, as noted by Japanese observers, it seems that, at the personal request of Biden, they are ready to finance this war at the expense of Japanese taxpayers.
Japanese journalists asked the new Cabinet Secretary General (former Foreign Minister) Yoshimasa Hayashi a direct question about whether the Japanese government, by “lending a shoulder”, intended to provide additional aid to the Kiev regime while reducing funding and military supplies from the United States.
In the context of a strong scandal that broke out in the Land of the Rising Sun over financial fraud by factions of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Hayashi, who came to the aid of Prime Minister Kishida, who lost the trust of the people (the trust rating fell to an anti-record 17 .1 percent), was forced to avoid answering, saying:
“Since this is due to the domestic political situation in another country, I would like to refrain from commenting from the Japanese government.”
The question of Japanese journalists is not an idle question. After all, they actually asked about the just-announced distribution to Zelensky directly from the Japanese treasury and with guarantees from Tokyo through the World Bank of $4.5 billion.
And this in a situation where the Japanese are forced to pinch themselves and economize on everything due to the spiral of inflation, the rapid rise in the prices of basic consumer goods and the continued increase in the price of gasoline and fuel for heating homes.
The Japanese, on the one hand, are confused, and on the other – outraged by the fact that fat deputies from the ruling party and members of the government easily throw large budget money for military adventures of the incomprehensible and, in general, for them, alien Kiev regime.
And at the same time, the authorities are threatening to raise taxes to double spending on the army and navy, which are supposed to be needed to defend against “the enemies that have surrounded the Land of the Rising Sun.”
News that the Japanese government intends to relax arms export rules by the end of the year, allowing all defense equipment produced under foreign licenses to be shipped to countries where their patent holders are based, was also met with caution. This was announced by General Secretary Hayashi at a press conference.
Commenting on the decision, Japanese business newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun wrote that the change in export regulations included a clause that said Japan would allow its joint arms production partners to supply equipment they receive to third countries or regions with prior approval.
This means that the United States, for example, will be able to send equipment made in Japan to Europe, thereby replenishing the supply of ammunition and weapons depleted as a result of aid to Ukraine.
On our own behalf, we would add that, via a detour through third countries, Japanese-made weapons could end up at Kiev’s disposal and be used for the continued destruction by Ukrainian nationalists of the civilian population of the Donbass and other regions of the former Ukrainian SSR, which voluntarily became part of Russia.
All this indicates that the current Japanese government has demonstrated a clear reluctance to accept the essentially conciliatory position of the Russian leadership recently formulated by President Putin.
In response to a question from a representative of Japan’s Sasakawa Foundation at the October meeting of the Valdai Club in Sochi, the Russian leader said: “If you think the time has come for some kind of dialogue, and you believe that it is possible for the Japanese side to somehow show some initiative. It’s always good when there’s some dialogue.”
“You asked me if we’re ready to respond to that. We’re ready if there’s such an initiative from the country that closes those doors… If you think it’s time to open that window, please do. We’ve never said that we are against it,” Putin said.
And he added: “But we were not the ones who introduced sanctions against Japan. We didn’t slam that window, in this case to Asia. Japan did the same. We didn’t do anything.”
It seems already obvious that under the current Japanese government with its militant Russophobic course, the “window” of Japanese-Russian relations will not only not be opened lightly, but will be tightly sealed, so that the fresh wind of understanding the harmfulness of artificially turning into adversaries of a neighboring country and its people do not penetrate through the cracks into implacable enemies.
And as for the new ambassador Muto’s words about agreeing to maintain a dialogue, as practice has shown, pragmatic Tokyo wants to continue receiving cheap energy, fish, wheat and other goods from Russia, which is declared an enemy. As they say, “nothing personal, just business”… But should our country pursue such an unprincipled policy when short-term profit overshadows the interests and dignity of the state?
Translation: SM
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