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Japan Keeps Door to Russia Open While Imposing Sanctions Japan Imposes New Sanctions on Russia but Keeps a Diplomatic Door Open
(about 11 hours later)
TOKYO — Japan imposed new sanctions against Russia on Tuesday that were more limited than those announced last month by the United States, a move that analysts said illustrates Tokyo’s conflicting desires to show solidarity with Washington while also keeping the door open to improving ties with Moscow. TOKYO — Torn between maintaining solidarity with Washington and keeping a diplomatic door open with Moscow, Japan imposed new sanctions on Russia on Tuesday but kept them more limited than those recently ordered by the United States.
The new measures adopted by the cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will freeze assets in Japan of two groups and 40 individuals involved in Russia’s intervention in Ukraine, including the former Ukrainian president, Viktor F. Yanukovych. They will also restrict imports of products made in Crimea, whose annexation by Russia earlier this year has been opposed by the West. The new sanctions indicate that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe felt he needed to fall in line with the United States, his country’s longtime protector, analysts said, especially as he tries to fend off territorial claims by an increasingly powerful China.
The top Japanese government spokesman, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, said the measures were in line with those taken by other industrialized nations and particularly the European Union, which last month also announced a new round of sanctions that were less severe than those imposed by the Obama administration. While the latest American sanctions were broadly aimed at punishing Russia’s financial, energy and defense industries, many of the European measures were narrowly targeted at individuals, an approach emulated by Japan. Still, Mr. Abe appeared to be trying to strike a delicate balance not only by limiting the sanctions, but also by indicating that he had not canceled an invitation to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to visit Japan in the fall. Mr. Abe has been pursuing warmer relations with Moscow, in part, analysts say, to ensure that Japan does not lose out on Russia’s bounty of natural gas.
“Japan will coordinate with first the G-7 and also the international community in pursuing a peaceful, diplomatic solution to the current state of affairs in Ukraine,” Mr. Suga told reporters, referring to the Group of Seven nations: Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States. “Japan is sending the message that we are not enthusiastic about these sanctions,” said Yoshiki Mine, a research director at the Canon Institute for Global Studies in Tokyo and a former high-ranking Japanese diplomat. “Japan needs to show it shares the same values as the West, but it also wants to keep an opening with Russia.”
However, by stressing that his nation was following other industrialized nations, Japanese diplomatic analysts said Mr. Suga seemed to be saying that Japan does not seek a total freeze in ties with Russia, and remains open to talking with Moscow about other issues. Mr. Abe has also seemed to send similarly mixed signals, indicating over the weekend that while he was working with other developed nations to resolve the crisis, he had not canceled an invitation to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to visit Japan this autumn. The Japanese sanctions will freeze any assets in Japan belonging to two organizations and 40 individuals connected with Russia’s involvement in Ukraine. The people named by Japan had already been targeted by the Americans and Europeans for being involved in Russia’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula, or in what the West calls Russian-backed efforts to destabilize eastern Ukraine, according to a government spokesman.
“Japan is sending the message that we are not enthusiastic about these sanctions,” said Yoshiki Mine, a research director at The Canon Institute for Global Studies in Tokyo and a former high-ranking Japanese diplomat. “Japan needs to show it shares the same values as the West, but it also wants to keep an opening with Russia. Even if Mr. Putin cannot come this year, maybe he can come next year, or the year after.” Japan will also restrict imports of products made in Crimea.
Mr. Mine and others said Japan’s apparent hesitation to impose even limited sanctions on Russia underscores the difficult balancing act Mr. Abe faces. Analysts called the measures largely symbolic since Japan does not import much from Crimea, and it is unclear how many, if any, assets the targeted people hold in Japan.
On the one hand, analysts said, Mr. Abe wants to avoid falling too far behind the United States and the European Union in punishing Moscow, especially after pro-Russian rebels appeared to be behind the downing of a Malaysia Airlines jet last month, which killed all 298 onboard. Indeed, since Mr. Abe took office a year and a half ago, one of the signature goals of his administration has been raising Japan’s profile in international affairs, while also strengthening ties with the United States. These have been the main public rationales for some of his most controversial moves, particularly unshackling the Japanese military from its post-World War II pacifist restrictions. The latest round of American and European sanctions against Russia went much further, taking broad aim at the country’s banking, energy and military technology industries. Japan had imposed relatively mild sanctions in April that included barring some Russian officials from receiving travel visas to Japan.
But at the same time, he also appears unwilling to completely alienate Russia, say analysts, because that country offers the rare and tantalizing prospect of achieving a diplomatic success of the sort that has eluded him. Mr. Abe’s nationalistic tendencies have so far threatened to isolate him and his nation in the region. Mr. Mine and others said Japan’s apparent hesitation over sanctions underscored how Mr. Abe was being torn by competing geopolitical goals.
Analysts say Mr. Abe sees a chance to go down in history as the leader who finally resolved one of Japan’s most stubborn diplomatic disputes, a festering territorial disagreement that has divided Japan and Russia for almost seven decades, preventing the nations from even signing a formal peace treaty to end World War II. On the one hand, analysts said, Mr. Abe wants to avoid falling too far behind the United States and the European Union in punishing Moscow, especially after the downing of a Malaysia Airlines jetliner last month, which many in the West say was carried out by pro-Russia separatists.
The disputed territory — three islands and a tiny group of islets off Japan’s northern coast — was controlled by Japan until it was occupied by Soviet troops after Japan’s surrender in 1945, a fact that still rankles Japanese nationalists. One of Mr. Abe’s signature goals has been to raise Japan’s profile in international affairs while also strengthening ties with the United States. That is the main rationale he has offered for some of his most contentious policies, in particular freeing the Japanese military from some of the pacifist constraints imposed after World War II.
Analysts say both sides have new incentives to make a deal. Since the Fukushima accident forced Japan to wean itself from nuclear power, there has been a renewed desire in Tokyo to find alternatives sources of natural gas and other energy beyond the volatile Middle East. And even before the Crimean crisis, Mr. Putin was starting to “look east” for new buyers of Russian energy — and new sources of investment capital to help build up Russian infrastructure — to reduce economic dependence on Western Europe. But Russia offers Mr. Abe a rare and tantalizing prospect of achieving a major diplomatic success at a time when his nationalistic tendencies have threatened to isolate him and his nation in the region.
Hopes of a breakthrough began to grow when both Mr. Abe and Mr. Putin seemed to signal greater willingness than their predecessors to talk about the territorial dispute. Analysts said there had been expectations that Mr. Abe and Mr. Putin, two popular leaders with impeccable patriotic credentials, could finally overcome resistance to a compromise by conservatives in both nations. Analysts say Mr. Abe sees a chance to finally resolve one of Japan’s most stubborn diplomatic impasses, over three islands and a group of islets off its northern coast that were occupied by Soviet troops after Japan surrendered in 1945. The islands have been a sore point for almost seven decades, preventing Japan and Russia from even signing a formal peace treaty after World War II.
This helped lead to a noticeable thawing in long-frozen ties, with Mr. Abe meeting Mr. Putin five times since taking office, most recently in February during the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. This is in stark contrast to Japan’s souring relations with neighboring South Korea and China, whose leaders have been reluctant to even meet with Mr. Abe because of what they see as his revisionist views on Japan’s bloody wartime empire-building. Both sides have new incentives now to make a deal, analysts said. Since the disaster at the Fukushima plant in 2011 forced Japan to at least temporarily end its reliance on nuclear energy, the government has been seeking new energy supplies, from sources other than the volatile Middle East.
Since the conflict in Ukraine, some Japanese have watched anxiously as Mr. Putin signed a massive contract in May to supply China with $400 billion worth of natural gas. Analysts said there are fears that Russia could retaliate to sanctions by canceling joint energy projects with Japan, like one to produce liquified natural gas on the Russian island of Sakhalin. Mr. Putin has been looking to Asia for customers for Russia’s gas and oil, and for new sources of investment in its energy infrastructure to reduce its economic dependence on Western Europe.
“We see China and also South Korea developing new energy cooperation with Russia,” said Nobuo Shimotomai, an expert on Russo-Japanese relations at Hosei University in Tokyo. “Japan does not want to be left behind.” Both Mr. Abe and Mr. Putin have appeared to signal a greater willingness to talk about the territorial dispute than their predecessors did. Experts said there had been expectations that Mr. Abe and Mr. Putin, two leaders with impeccable conservative credentials, could finally overcome resistance to a compromise by hard-liners in both nations.
Instead, analysts said Russia has tried to drive a wedge between Tokyo and Washington. After Japan’s new sanctions were first announced last week, the Russian foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, called on Japan to show more independence from the United States, while also saying that Mr. Putin’s visit to Japan was still on, so far as Russia was concerned. The dates for that visit have yet to be set. This helped lead to a noticeable thawing of long-frozen ties, with Mr. Abe meeting with Mr. Putin five times since taking office in December 2012 — most recently in February, when Mr. Abe, unlike many world leaders, attended the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
But in the end, analysts said, Japan has no choice but to toe the line with the United States. For one, they said, Japan cannot afford to condone a territorial grab by Russia at a time when China is making increasingly forceful claims in a separate dispute over islands currently controlled by Japan. But just as importantly, say analysts, Japan must stay close to Washington, whose military power remains the best check on China’s new assertiveness on territorial issues. That outreach on both sides stands in stark contrast to Japan’s souring relations with neighboring South Korea and China, whose leaders have complained bitterly about what they say are Mr. Abe’s revisionist views on Japan’s bloody wartime empire-building.
But after the conflict in Ukraine erupted, some Japanese watched anxiously as Mr. Putin signed a large contract in May to supply China with $400 billion worth of natural gas. Analysts said there were fears that Russia could retaliate against sanctions by canceling joint energy projects with Japan, like one to produce liquefied natural gas on the Russian island of Sakhalin.
“We see China and also South Korea developing new energy cooperation with Russia,” said Nobuo Shimotomai, an expert on Russian-Japanese relations at Hosei University in Tokyo. “Japan does not want to be left behind.”
Russia has been trying to drive a wedge between Tokyo and Washington, analysts say. After it became clear last week that Japan was likely to impose new sanctions, the Russian foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, called on Japanese leaders to show more independence from the United States, while also saying that Mr. Putin’s visit to Japan was still on as far as Russia was concerned. The dates for that visit have yet to be set.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry also issued a statement saying that the expected Japanese move was “an unfriendly and shortsighted step” that “inevitably harms the entire range of our bilateral relations, knocking them back.” On Tuesday, Russia canceled talks between the two countries’ deputy foreign ministers.
But in the end, analysts said, Japanese leaders decided they had no choice but to side with the United States. They also said Japan could not afford to condone a territorial grab by Russia at a time when it is locked in its own territorial dispute with China over islands under Japan’s control.
“Mr. Abe was taking an overly optimistic view of what he could accomplish with Russia,” said Mr. Mine, the former diplomat. “The Crimean crisis has forced him to take a more serious look at the geopolitical realities.”“Mr. Abe was taking an overly optimistic view of what he could accomplish with Russia,” said Mr. Mine, the former diplomat. “The Crimean crisis has forced him to take a more serious look at the geopolitical realities.”