Kishida announces $100 million in extra aid for Ukraine
· The Japan TimesBrussels – Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Thursday that Japan will provide $100 million (¥12.1 billion) in additional emergency humanitarian aid to people fleeing Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Kishida unveiled the additional aid plan at a Group of Seven summit in Brussels. Japan has already provided Ukraine and neighboring countries with $100 million in emergency humanitarian aid.
He also said Japan will consider providing supplies and sending medical and public health workers.
Later, Kishida met with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki to explain a plan to send an assistance team to Poland to accept fleeing Ukrainians into Japan. For this, Tokyo will dispatch Justice Minister Yoshihisa Furukawa as a special envoy of the prime minister, Kishida said.
At the G7 summit, Kishida said Tokyo will "respond resolutely" to the Russian invasion without hesitation, despite Moscow's declaration of a halt to its negotiations to conclude a World War II peace treaty with Japan.
Japan is seriously concerned about the possibility that Russia will use weapons of mass destruction, Kishida also said, stressing that any use of chemical or biological weapons will not be tolerated, let alone nuclear weapons.
Regarding sanctions against Russia, Kishida explained that his country aims to enact legislation during the current parliamentary session ending in June to strip Russia of its most favored nation trade status.
He also said that 81 military-related organizations and many more oligarchs will be added to the list of targets of Japanese sanctions against Russia, while a ban on Japanese exports of luxury goods to Russia is slated to begin next week.
Japan also plans to enact legislation to prevent Russia from evading sanctions by using cryptocurrencies and other digital assets, he added.
After the summit, Kishida spoke to reporters at an air base in the Brussels suburbs. After mentioning his recent trip to India and Cambodia, he explained to his G7 peers Japanese efforts to secure cooperation from third-party nations in addressing the Ukrainian crisis, pointing out that Japan is only representative from Asia,
During his stay in Belgium, Kishida also had short talks with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Jens Stoltenberg, secretary-general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
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