Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida began a surprise visit to Ukraine early on Tuesday, hours after Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in neighbouring Russia for a three-day visit.
Mr Kishida was seen riding a train from Poland heading to Kyiv earlier today. The train, which is believed to have left from the Polish border town of Przemysl, will arrive in the Ukrainian capital later today.
The Japanese leader is the only member of the G-7, formerly the G-8 prior to Russia’s removal, who has not visited Ukraine and Mr Fishida has come under pressure to do so from home.
At the talks, Mr Kishida will show his “absolute rejection to Russia’s one-sided change to the status quo by invasion and a force, and to affirm his commitment to defend the rule-based international order”, the Japanese foreign ministry said.
The timing of Mr Kishida’s visit, which coincides with Xi Jinping’s visit to Moscow, is significant not only because of the support it shows to Ukraine but because of geopolitical tension between China and Japan in the Indo-Pacific region.
Parallels can be drawn between Russia’s role in eastern Europe and China’s stance in the Indo-Pacific, with the latter nation looking to subsume the island of Taiwan by military means if needed.
It has also vociferously opposed US military presence in the region, including 18,000 US marines on the Japanese island of Okinawa.