Arab News Japan 

TOKYO: Japan, Australia, India, and the US(Quad) leaders agreed during a video conference on March 3, to work closely together to respond to the situation in Ukraine.

The meeting started at 11:00 p.m. (Japan time) and continued for approximately 70 minutes, with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison,  Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and United States President Joseph Biden sharing information and exchanging views on the situation in Ukraine. Kishida stated that Russia’s aggression this time is an attempt to unilaterally change the status quo by force, shakes the foundation of the international order, and strongly condemned Russia, adding that Japan has been urgently implementing tough countermeasures in close alignment with the international community including the G7. 

According to the foreign ministry in Tokyo, the four leaders exchanged information on their respective assistance toUkraine, with Prime Minister Kishida stating that he recently conveyed to Ukrainian president Zelensky his intention to provide $100 million in emergency humanitarian assistance to the embattled Ukraine in addition to a loan of not less than $100 million, and had expressed Japan’s willingness to accept Ukrainians displaced by the crisis. Furthermore, the four leaders concurred that any attempt to unilaterally change the status quo by force, as in the Ukraine, must not be tolerated in the Indo-Pacific region, and that it is critical to further promote efforts toward realization of a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific”. 

The four leaders agreed additionally that the Quad will steadily develop various practical and cooperative agenda toward the “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” starting with health security and COVID-19 response measures including vaccine-related support, as well as infrastructure, climate change mitigation, and development of critical and emerging technologies. They also concurred on continuing to contribute positively to the region as the Quad and to establishing a new humanitarian assistance and disaster relief mechanism. The four will hold the next Quad Summit Meeting in Tokyo in the coming months.