Kishida pushes India’s Modi for clear response to Ukraine crisis

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Saturday told Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had shaken “the foundation of international order” and required a clear response.

“We confirmed any unilateral change to the status quo by force cannot be forgiven in any region, and it is necessary to seek peaceful resolutions of disputes based on international law,” Kishida told reporters after meeting Modi in New Delhi.

In a joint statement issued after their meeting in New Delhi, Kishida and Modi underscored the importance of safety and security of nuclear facilities in Ukraine, and pledged to take steps to address the humanitarian crisis in the Eastern European country.

The leaders called for “an immediate cessation of violence and noted that there was no other choice but the path of dialogue and diplomacy for resolution of the conflict,” the statement said.

India and Japan are party to “the Quad,” a security framework that also includes the United States and Australia.

While Japan has imposed sanctions on dozens of Russian individuals and organizations since the start of what Russia calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine and has accepted Ukrainian evacuees, India is the only Quad member not to have condemned the invasion.

Calling Japan and India “two leading powers in the Indo-Pacific region,” Kishida and Modi vowed to “meet challenges against the rules-based maritime order in the East and South China Seas,” taking aim at Beijing’s assertive claims in regional waters.

They “emphasized the importance of non-militarization and self-restraint,” the statement said, in reference to Beijing’s militarization of outposts in disputed areas of the South China Sea and repeated incursions by official Chinese ships into Japanese waters around the Senkaku Islands, a group of East China Sea islets controlled by Tokyo but claimed by Beijing.

Kishida and Modi condemned North Korea for repeatedly launching ballistic missiles in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions, according to the statement.

They called for the “complete denuclearization” of North Korea.

Kishida also announced a plan to invest ¥5 trillion ($42 billion) in India over five years.

In recent years Japan has supported India’s urban infrastructure development and provided funds for a high-speed railway based on its bullet train technology.

In 2020, the two countries signed an acquisition and cross-servicing agreement that allows for reciprocal stocks of food, fuel and other supplies between defense forces.