Japan urges China to 'play responsible role' on Ukraine crisis

China is being responsible, to itself and it's own interests only. It has no interest in playing any kind of positive role in the international community. I'd say that if the West had not hit Russia so fast and hard economically, China might have openly supported the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Instead China is closely watching and analyzing how the world would respond to it's inevitable invasion of Taiwan.

There is an interesting idea going the rounds of various knowledgeable parties that China’s stance is calculated, giving russia initial encouragement and promises of support which it is now rowing back on as always intended so that russia becomes militarily less of a threat and however it turns out in Ukraine (China doesn’t actually care) russia now isolated from the west who otherwise would have supported it against any encroachment by China in the east, will become dependant on China militarily (for the high tech it can’t make itself or now import from the west) and economically as its economy implodes, thus ensuring russia is on side but very much as a junior partner while China gains access to the resources if Siberia at a cheap price as a concession for their help and support without the need to use military force to gain what they lost in the 19th century.

China is using the Russian invasion and war to gauge the strengths and weaknesses of Russia's military forces, should their friendship sour, and China is also able to see what strengths and weaknesses the NATO forces might have. China can see which weapons are being used by both sides and have a better sense of what China's military need to do if they were to face a conflict with either the west or Russia. China is also able to gauge whether the western nations are able to work together.

China is in the catbird seat watching as both the west and Russia wage war. And now Chinese businesses can have a better sense of which markets to target, and which new products might be needed.

the phrase Lead Balloon comes to mind

@PTownsend one other thing, what China did learn from the Russian invasion of Ukraine is how WEAK Russia really is and how they had the world totally fooled with their military might!! Putin looks like a dog shaking with Rabies the stress is going to kill him if no one else does!

China has no desire to do anything to assist peace in Ukraine. It couldn't care less how much destruction Russia causes. China has used similar propaganda to Russia in describing the situation and reason for Russia's violent invasion, taking the opportunity to blame NATO and virtually excuse everything thats going on.

The first law of nature is self preservation

I'm glad to see that Japan is urging China to be a responsible nation by condemning Putin's war. There are 35 other nations that need that same encouragement. Not that any of them will change policy at Japan's urging but it's the right thing to do. And, maybe people will remember who these Putin supporting nations are and continue to give them a hard time.

@PTownsend GREAT logical analogy!! I totally agree with your post.

China is using the Russian invasion and war to gauge the strengths and weaknesses of Russia's military forces, should their friendship sour, and China is also able to see what strengths and weaknesses the NATO forces might have. China can see which weapons are being used by both sides and have a better sense of what China's military need to do if they were to face a conflict with either the west or Russia. China is also able to gauge whether the western nations are able to work together.

China is in the catbird seat watching as both the west and Russia wage war. And now Chinese businesses can have a better sense of which markets to target, and which new products might be needed.

China has a spine. And its own foreign policy, not dictated by another country.

If China did have a spine, we wouldn't see these mess in entire Asia.

China playing a similar role the US plays during Israeli aggression against its neighbors or the Palestinians. It could make a significant difference, but chooses to sit on the sidelines and watch. Defenders of US policy on Israel say "Israel is an important ally in the region". Well, China can say the same thing about Russia.

The good news and as far as we know China so far has not joined the fight yet!!!

Let us hope that china does not. The rest of the world should at least be thankful that China so far did not send weapons and supplies in aid of Putin.

Let it be. Xi will be doomed together with Putin and Z-cult followers. Japan doesn't have to give any mercy for them.

I think its important to remember that 77% of Russia is in Asia .

Just a reminder .

Kaim ,US has precision guided missile use satellite constellations,that are more accurate than Tokyo train ,that can be delivered on time

Kyo wa heiwa dayo neToday  12:50 pm JST

Japan thinks its responsible and helping to achieve world peace and stability ?

Have we forgotten already that it was Japan that ended the league of nations by not keeping its promises and ruthlessly attacking other nations almost 80 years ago?

What a joke of a comment. The U.S., failed to participate and Germany, Italy and Japan left the League of Nations. But the main reason for it's failure was the mandatory unanimous vote requirement. Exact same reason that the UN is a failure today.

OssanAmerica

Better check your history.

It's not a joke !

Kyo wa heiwa dayo ne

The Pope is not part of the UN. I am pointing out that he is not even speaking much for his own flock in China and now Hong Kong! The Pope does not want any trouble with China. Condemning the war in Ukraine is easy to do as long as you are not getting pulled into it.

No one really cares about the Uighurs. Did anyone say anything about the Catholic church in China, especially the government version of it?! Even the Pope is not saying much if anything at all.

Japan urges China to 'play responsible role' on Ukraine crisis

China and responsible role should not be used in the same sentence unless it is in the negative. Thanks to China's 'responsible role' we got a worldwide pandemic.

Japan has joined Western allies on tough sanctions against Russia 

"tough" apart from the bits that affect said countries. more posturing. at least China's not being hypocritical about it.

Why didnt Japan completely stop importing Russian natural gas or energy if she is being so so so ... "Responsible"?

Japan thinks its responsible and helping to achieve world peace and stability ?

Have we forgotten already that it was Japan that ended the league of nations by not keeping its promises and ruthlessly attacking other nations almost 80 years ago?

Japan still has chemical weapons and tries to say they are for defense purposes only after signing an agreement to never use them again.

Responsibility and trustworthy aren't something Japan should be lecturing anyone.

And no one is urging China to stop its genocide of Uighurs? Condemning Russia vs Killing Uighurs, which is more urgent?

1st, whats a responsible role? Just follows the USA's/Western countries' ??

2nd, if you are sincere, has no ulterior motives/no agendas, you need to be consistence in your massages/what you say/propose. IE, every time the same thing happens, you have to/need to speak up, even if, its about your friends/allies, in this case, USA.

Quote,  "is a clear violation of the U.N. Charter and other international laws," unquote.

This has happened many times, even recently, done by the American, eg, The things that happened in the Middle East come to mind. And eg, The security arrangement that took place in the S Pacific, concerned. The security arrangements within the country, its no problem. QUAD/AUKUS?? no problems??

See what i mean??

Andy Panda

Well...the Vatican isn't a member of the United Nations if that helps your understanding of the Catholic Church in China, and the Pope has condemned the Ukraine crisis and all involved as senseless and unnecessary conflict.

China has a spine. And its own foreign policy, not dictated by another country.

LDP Japan with US bases / artillery at the standby barking that "public opinion in Japan is extremely severe towards China" LOL

It seem like Ukraine is headed to fail state like Yemen, unwilling to do anything for itself,relying on what others are doing for them gleefully,the old saying goes, beggars cannot be choosy,do not bite the hand that feed you ,God help those who help themselves

I wonder if:

Politburo members are urgently convening a meeting to review China's posture?

Having a laugh and saying something like, 'USA's poodle is barking at us'.

It was ignored by Wang Yi and other Politburo members are completely oblivious.

Let it be. Xi will be doomed together with Putin and Z-cult followers. Japan doesn't have to give any mercy for them.

I'm sure Xi and Putin will be asking Japan for mercy imminently.... 笑

As long as the Japanese keep buying Chinese made plastic throwaways (which they are) then the Chinese don’t need to engage in any type of dialogue and will continue their incursions into the sea and air around Japan….