NNA - Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Monday emphasized that Japan has “no intention of taking sides” following U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s extraordinary blowup at the White House last week.
Ishiba, speaking during a Lower House Budget Committee meeting, expressed surprise at Trump and Zelenskyy’s verbal dustup, which ended without a key minerals deal being signed and with the Ukrainian leader being kicked out of the White House.
“From what I saw on TV and in the news, I can't help but wonder how this could have happened,” he said in response to a question about his views on the heated argument in front of live cameras last Friday.
But Ishiba sought to strike a balance for Japan, the sole Asian member of the Group of Seven advanced economies, in its alliance with the United States and its longstanding support for Ukraine in repelling the more than 3-year-old invasion by Russia.
“We have no intention of taking sides, but I think it is most important that the G7 remains united,” he said. “We would like to make further efforts to see how we can retain American involvement and how we can ensure the unity of the G7 as a whole.”
Ishiba said Saturday that Japan “must do everything it can” to prevent division between the U.S., Ukraine and G7.
"This is not something for which emotions should clash,” he said, adding that diplomacy “backed by compassion and perseverance” must be employed if peace is to be achieved.
The Japanese government’s top spokesperson, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, reiterated Ishiba’s stance Monday, telling a regular news conference that Tokyo was watching the “various developments taking place among the international community ... with great interest.”
Ishiba’s remarks came as European leaders used a security summit in London on Monday to highlight their broad support for Ukraine while scrambling to get Zelenskyy back to the table with Trump. The U.K. and France were seeking to build what Starmer called a "coalition of the willing” to participate in peacekeeping forces and help reassure Ukraine about the durability of any peace.
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