Australia urges China to denounce Russia over Ukraine; Japan expresses ‘grave concern’ over crisis

BEIJING: PM Scott Morrison called Beijing to allow an appropriate response through the UN rather than ‘resisting that being done’ through its membership of the UN Security Council

Meanwhile, Japan’s PM Fumio Kishida is set to call his counterpart as Tokyo expresses ‘grave concern’ over a possible Russian invasion

Australia on Tuesday urged China to denounce Russian threats against Ukraine, as Russia’s envoy to the European Union said the country would “respond” if its citizens started being killed.
“We will not invade Ukraine unless we are provoked to do that,” Vladimir Chizhov was quoted by Russia’s RIA news agency as saying on Tuesday. “If the Ukrainians launch an attack against Russia, you shouldn’t be surprised if we counterattack. Or, if they start blatantly killing Russian citizens anywhere – Donbass or wherever.”
The Moscow-backed rebels say the Kyiv government is preparing an offensive against them, while Ukraine says Russia, which has amassed over 100,000 troops close to Ukrainian borders, is planning to invade its neighbour.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison noted that Beijing and Moscow had announced they were pursuing closer relations since Russian troops began massing near the Ukrainian border.

“We would expect all nations, all governments around the world, to be denouncing what is taking place with the threats of violence against Ukraine,” Morrison told parliament.
“I do note that the Chinese government, together with the Russian government, have been banding together on this issue and that the Chinese government has not denounced what is occurring in Ukraine,” he said.

He called on all federal lawmakers to join the Australian government in “urging the Chinese government to denounce those actions and to allow an appropriate response through the United Nations rather than resisting that being done” through its membership of the UN Security Council.

Morrison’s criticisms of China will further strain a tattered bilateral relationship between Australia and its most important trading partner.
Australia has suffered trade retaliation in recent years after angering Beijing with actions that include outlawing covert foreign interference in domestic politics, banning Chinese tech giant Huawei from major infrastructure projects and demanding an independent investigation into the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In Japan, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was expected to speak to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday evening, a government source said.
Kishida said on Tuesday that Japan was “watching the situation with grave concern”.
“We’ll continue to monitor the situation with high vigilance, while coordinating closely with G7 countries to deal with any developments appropriately,” he said at a meeting between government ministers and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

On Monday, a statement by finance ministers from the G7 group of most developed nations warned that Russia faced tough sanctions if it proceeded with military action against Ukraine.
The allies stood ready to “collectively impose economic and financial sanctions which will have massive and immediate consequences on the Russian economy”, the statement said.
Japan’s Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi on Tuesday stressed Tokyo’s support for “the integrity of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territory”, but declined to give details on what form any sanctions might take.
“If a Russian invasion occurs, Japan will deal with it appropriately, including through imposing sanctions, in response to what has actually happened and in cooperation with the international community including the G7,” he told reporters.

Japan’s defence minister meanwhile warned of an increased Russian naval presence in the Sea of Japan and the southern part of the Sea of Okhotsk.
“It is thought that they intend to show off the capability to operate in the East and West, along with the Russian military’s recent movement around Ukraine,” Defence Minister Nobuo Kishi said in a tweet.
Japan’s relations with Russia are complicated: the two countries never signed a peace treaty after World War II because of a lingering dispute over four islands claimed by Moscow in the closing days of the conflict.
The islands, off the northern coast of Japan’s northernmost island of Hokkaido, are known as the southern Kurils in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan.