Indebted Japan Continues to Fund Ukraine: Anti-Russia Kishida and Biden
Kanako Mita, Sawako Utsumi, and Lee Jay Walker
Modern Tokyo Times
The late former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was brutally assassinated, had favorable relations with the Russian Federation and met President Vladimir Putin many times. However, the administration of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is extremely hostile to the Russian Federation – in line with the whims of President Joe Biden of America, who is encouraging the re-militarization of Japan to levels unseen since the 1930s and early 1940s.
Internally, the ratio of debt in Japan is horrendous. It is the highest of all developed nations in the world. Also, wages have been static for over three decades (recent wage hikes are based on inflation and the rising cost of living).
Japan is also blighted by a low birth rate and people being forced to work longer by stealth (face pension penalties). The working poor are also blighted by a low hourly minimum wage compared with France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and other major developed nations. Hence, Japan resembles a low-paid economy for the most exploited in the Japanese labor market.
However, despite all the internal problems facing Japan, Kishida is remilitarizing. Accordingly, Japan is hostile to China and the Russian Federation under Kishida – in line with the Democratic Party in America under Biden.
Japan will also provide more money to Ukraine despite the dire debt ratio and ordinary Japanese being worse off concerning the higher cost of living under Kishida.
Kyodo News reports, “Japan’s aid to Ukraine has reached $7.6 billion, according to the Finance Ministry. In June, the World Bank approved a $1.5 billion loan for Ukraine’s recovery and reconstruction, which was guaranteed by the Japanese government.”
Japan and the Russian Federation share the same geopolitical space in Northeast Asia. However, Japan is hostile against the neighbors of China and the Russian Federation in line with America’s containment policies.
Japan and other G7 nations seek to make the Russian Federation pay for the conflict in Ukraine. This conflict pits the nationalist government of Ukraine (supported by NATO) against indigenous Russians of Donbass and the Russian Federation.
It appears that Japan lacks any diplomacy under Kishida – after all, how did he miss America and fellow NATO nations destabilizing Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Kosovo (Serbia), Syria, and others?
Kishida said, G7 nations will not accept “unilateral attempts by China and Russia to change the status quo by force.”
Andrey Rudenko, the Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation, said, “We have taken note of the [Japanese Prime Minister Fumio] Kishida administration’s accelerated implementation of abandoning a policy of peaceful development, which has been professed for many decades, and embarking on a track of fast-tracked militarization. Among the concrete steps along these lines are the holding of large-scale military exercises near Russia’s borders together with non-regional partners, the adoption of an updated version of doctrinal documents in the field of defense and security with a view to creating an attack potential and an unprecedented increase in defense spending.”
Ordinary Japanese people need a government that cares for the working poor, helping to tackle the low birth rate, protecting the rights of pensioners, tackling anti-female discrimination in the workplace, and other ills. Instead, over three decades of mainly Liberal Democratic Party rule led to declining living standards and other ills.
Accordingly, it is shocking that Kishida is obsessed with doubling the military budget and creating tensions with regional powers on the whims of America.
America is no better – 100,000 overdose deaths a year, enormous debt, high crime, mass shootings, and a disastrous southern border that is a boom for drug cartels. However, the Democrats are obsessed with fueling a military arms race in Europe and Northeast Asia.
Modern Tokyo News is part of the Modern Tokyo Times group
http://moderntokyotimes.com Modern Tokyo Times – International News and Japan News
http://sawakoart.com – Sawako Utsumi’s website and Modern Tokyo Times artist
https://moderntokyonews.com Modern Tokyo News – Tokyo News and International News
PLEASE JOIN ON TWITTER
https://twitter.com/MTT_News Modern Tokyo Times
PLEASE JOIN ON FACEBOOK