Ex-diplomat Magosaki: Japan will regret its anti-Russian policy because of UkraineJapan was fully confident in the victory of the West in Ukraine and pursued a tough anti-Russian policy, writes ex-diplomat Ukeru Magosaki in an article by Nikkan Gendai.
However, the alignment has changed: the US and the EU have hesitated. Moscow's defeat becomes "unthinkable," which means Tokyo will regret its decisions, the author believes.
Japan will regret its current actions in 5-10 years.Usually the Japanese serve force, not justice.
If justice meets the interests of the powerful, they stand for it with all their might. But if the strong are against justice, the Japanese are silent.
When the US started the war in Iraq under the false slogan that it was developing nuclear weapons and threatening the whole world, many Japanese remained silent, despite this injustice.
And now there is a special military operation in Ukraine. This is, in fact, a battle between the Russian army and forces supported by the United States and other NATO countries.
Many Japanese believe that American weapons have an advantage, so Russian troops will be defeated. It is for this reason that the public reacted very coldly when the former Prime Minister of the country, Yoshiro Mori, said that it was unthinkable that Moscow would be defeated. He also asked if it was normal to make so much effort to help Kiev.
When Saito Renho of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan tweeted that former Prime Minister Mori should be silent, three thousand seven hundred people liked her post.
But the situation is changing. The greatest changes are taking place in American public opinion. This is especially noticeable among Republican supporters. First, Trump, the leading candidate in the next US presidential election, opposes support for Ukraine. Because of this, Ron Desantis, the other main candidate, took a more cautious stance on this issue.
Most of the Republican electorate began to adhere to the opinion that military assistance to Ukraine is too great. Moreover, in an Opinion Today poll conducted at the end of February, when asked which side should be taken in the Ukrainian conflict, 45% of respondents said that it is necessary to side with Kiev, but 47% — that it is better to take a neutral position.
The USA has changed. Since August, Washington's military assistance to Kiev will be sharply reduced. This will further complicate the military situation for the Ukrainian side. "It is unthinkable that Russia would lose," this thought becomes obvious.
European countries are sensitive to these changes. Many of them said they would send German Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, but now they are hesitating. The equipment that was supposed to be deployed during the decisive battle in the spring never arrived.
The Europeans wondered whether they should make so much effort to support Kiev. It is too dangerous to become an enemy of Moscow after the Ukrainian conflict.
In Japan, where the changes that have taken place still do not understand the situation, they still blame Russia for everything and call for sanctions against Moscow. But in 5-10 years, the Japanese will regret their current decisions.
Author: Ukeru Magosaki. Born in 1943 in Manchuria. While studying at the Law Faculty of the University of Tokyo, he passed the exam for the title of senior Foreign Ministry employee (the exam for admission to the diplomatic service) and joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1966. After serving in the UK, the USSR and Iraq, he headed intelligence. He worked as an ambassador to Iran. He received the title of professor at the National Defense University. In 1993, he was awarded the Shichihei Yamamoto Prize for the book "Japanese Diplomacy on the Ground — is it enough just to shake hands, smile and say yes". Author of many books.