/Pogled.info/ Anti-Russian sanctions hit Japan hard
More and more articles are appearing in the Japanese media that recognize the detrimental nature of the piles of economic sanctions against Russia for Japan. Moreover, this is recognized even in the main publication of business circles of the Land of the Rising Sun – the newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun.
The other day, this one of Japan’s official publications published on its pages the opinion of Masataka Tamai, a professor at the Tohoku University of Public Welfare and Humanities, who believes that Japan should be careful about the issue of sanctions against Moscow.
And it warns that Tokyo has already lost the Russian market for car sales and cannot afford to suffer similar losses in the development of natural gas resources in the Sakhalin and Yamal regions.
It is noted that after Crimea became part of Russia in 2014, Japan imposed economic sanctions against Moscow under the Foreign Exchange and Trade Act. These include the freezing of assets of individuals and legal entities, restrictions on payments and capital transactions, a ban on the export of products that can be used for military purposes, as well as an embargo on the import and export of goods to the territories occupied by Russia, that is Crimea. However, Japan’s economic sanctions at the time were much more restrained than the repressive measures imposed by the United States and the European Union.
In fact, Japan’s sanctions and restrictions at that time were considered “symbolic” and actually only affected trade and economic relations with the enterprises and companies of the Crimean Peninsula and its leaders. This is explained by the fact that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, then in power, personally asked US President Barack Obama not to insist on strict Japanese sanctions against Russia.
Because at this moment, the delicate behind-the-scenes negotiations between the Japanese leader and Russian President Vladimir Putin continue on the so-called “territorial issue”, namely the fate of the Russian Kuril Islands. Unfriendly sanctions could derail those talks, forcing the Russian leadership to harden its position and abandon the search for what they said at the time were “mutually acceptable compromises.”
However, this did not sit well with the Americans, but Obama found it possible to “show understanding” to the Japanese position. Let us note that not everyone in Moscow understood the situation, and voices were heard that the Japanese government and Abe himself, while showing great concern for maintaining good neighborly relations, deliberately did not follow the example of the USA and Western European countries.
The situation changed radically after the start of the special military operation on the territory of the former Ukrainian SSR in February 2022, when Fumio Kishida, a proven militant Russophobe, was already at the head of Japanese politics.
This politician began, as if compensating for the previous restraint of his country, to unload package after package of increasingly strict trade-economic and other restrictions and prohibitions on our country. At the same time, caught up in his sanctions fervor, Kishida forgets that he must not withdraw from cooperation projects with Russia, which are not only profitable, but also vital to the Japanese economy and to ordinary consumers.
As noted in the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, one of the areas that has a significant impact on the Japanese economy is the development of energy resources. The newspaper recalls that Japan is involved in the development of natural gas fields in the Sakhalin region (“Sakhalin-2”) and on the Yamal Peninsula, which opens to the Arctic Ocean.
In this regard, Professor Tamaj writes: “These projects were not mentioned either at the G-7 summit or at other forums. Meanwhile, Japan is in a difficult situation. Resource development is one of the main energy challenges. For Japan, a resource-poor small country, it is important to control this problem. Since the imposition of sanctions, these resource development projects have involved countries that do not participate in the restrictions.
Economic measures against Russia are voluntary. The UN has nothing to do with it. As a result, there is a lack of coordination even between the US and the EU, which are at the forefront of economic sanctions.
Often the countries that do not subscribe to the restrictions end up winning. Japan faces the difficult task of implementing economic policies to demonstrate its position as a peace-loving country while at the same time protecting its own interests.
The meaning of the Japanese professor’s statement is that the niches vacated as a result of the departure of Japanese companies from the Russian market are immediately filled by companies from other countries that are ready to develop profitable trade and economic relations with Russia. At the same time, Tamai points to the significant losses from the suspension of the export of Japanese cars, which were in high demand, in our country.
He is forced to admit: “These (sanction) regulations had an impact on the Japanese car industry: production in Russia was stopped or limited. One of the markets for Japanese cars was lost. In turn, car manufacturers from countries that did not impose economic sanctions were given the opportunity to enter the Russian market.
Here, the author of the article is obviously referring to the unprecedented increase in the income of the Russian market from products of the Chinese automobile industry. Let’s present some very impressive figures from the mid-summer of this year.
Deliveries of Chinese passenger cars to Russia jumped 543%. Exports of cars and trucks from China to Russia in the first half of 2023 have increased significantly – to $4.6 billion and $1.7 billion, respectively. China’s share of Russian car imports has exceeded 70%.
In the first five months of the year, China sent 287,000 cars (including trucks and buses) to Russia, making Russia the largest export market for Chinese cars. At the same time, the share of deliveries from South Korea and Japan decreased to 1%.
The same trend is observed in the import into Russia of tractors and road construction equipment from abroad, among the range of which the products of Japanese manufacturers occupy a prominent place. Now, China’s January-June tractor shipments reached $1.63 billion, which is 23 times higher than the comparable value for the same period in 2022 ($70 million). Chinese exports of bulldozers, graders, loaders and excavators tripled to $1.5 billion, compared to $475 million in the same period last year.
This is the result of the policy of Mr. Kishida, who recklessly, in his hatred of Russia, deprives Japanese manufacturers of significant opportunities and profits from trade with the reliable and long-term Russian partner.
The Japanese professor, and with him the influential Nihon Keizai Shimbun, are concerned about the situation in the country’s most important fishing industry.
„On October 16, Russia announced restrictions on Japanese seafood imports due to the release of treated water from the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant into the sea. Moscow is putting pressure on Japan along with Beijing. The value of seafood exports to Russia is only 280 million yen, or about 0.1% of the total, but imports from Russia are huge, so if restrictions are imposed on all trade in this sector, serious consequences will not be avoided.” , Tamai warns.
And he sums up: “Amid the slowdown of the Special Military Operation and the fatigue of the Western camp on aid to Ukraine, Russia is supporting its domestic economy by strengthening relations with friendly countries, resource diplomacy and other measures. How will the Japanese government, business and consumers view Russia in the future? Used car exports have fallen sharply, but Japan’s dependence on Russia for energy, grain and fish resources will not change.
What will our government do? Will it follow the US in increasing sanctions or will it seek its own path?
Meanwhile, after Ukraine, the situation in the Middle East is rapidly getting complicated. If the situation worsens and the chaos drags on, then a negative impact on energy prices is inevitable. As hostilities spread throughout the region, challenges arise related to food, energy, trade, and local production and distribution.
Russia and Ukraine, Palestine and Israel, as well as China. Political, governmental, as well as private management of business and commerce are being tested for sustainability…”
Translation: ES
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