New Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa made her global diplomatic debut on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Monday, holding her first in-person talks with Group of Seven top diplomats and inking a key agreement with the U.N. nuclear watchdog on the release of treated Fukushima wastewater.
Kamikawa, who was handed Japan’s diplomatic reins in last Wednesday’s Cabinet reshuffle, got off to a quick start, holding bilateral talks with her U.S., British and Brazilian counterparts and the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) before gathering with G7 foreign ministers.
Her appointment comes at a critical time for Tokyo, as Prime Minister Fumio Kishida looks to strengthen Japan’s security alliance with the United States and bolster ties with other partners to tackle China’s growing military assertiveness, North Korea’s repeated missile launches and Russia’s war in Ukraine.
In response to these and other challenges Kamikawa chaired a meeting of her G7 counterparts, with the top diplomats voicing their “strong unity in addressing threats to international peace and security.”
Although those talks were largely focused on the war in Ukraine, a statement released after the meeting by Kamikawa as chair of the group hinted at Tokyo’s desire to “build constructive and stable relations” with China, amid its row with Beijing over the release of treated wastewater from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant and concerns over Beijing’s “provocative activities” in the East and South China seas and near Taiwan.
On the Ukraine conflict, Kamikawa said in her statement that the ministers had condemned Russia’s “war of aggression” and reaffirmed their commitment “to stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes.”
The ministers also called on other countries to cease “any and all” assistance — including weapons — to Russia in the conflict “or face severe costs.”
That call comes amid concerns shared by G7 ministers over pledges of cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang following North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s rare visit to Russia for talks with President Vladimir Putin. Such cooperation could violate U.N. Security Council sanctions.
Kamikawa also netted a strong endorsement of Japan’s Fukushima water release, with her G7 counterparts from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union welcoming the “safe, transparent, and science-based process.”
The G7 ministers, she said, would next meet in Tokyo from Nov. 7 to 8.
Earlier in the day, Kamikawa also met with IAEA chief Rafael Grossi as the two signed a memorandum of cooperation laying out the full scope of the watchdog’s “comprehensive and continuous safety review” of the Fukushima discharge, “paving the way for decades of independent monitoring, sampling and analysis at the site and at sea,” the IAEA said in a statement.
“Today’s agreement sets the broad parameters for the IAEA’s permanent presence at the site to implement the monitoring, corroboration and assessment activities that are indispensable for transparency and for building confidence — both in Japan and abroad — that the discharge will neither harm people nor the environment,” Grossi said.
“We will stay and carry out our technical work until the last drop of the treated water has been safely discharged into the sea,” he added.
Japan began releasing treated water from Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings' Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant last month. The move was heavily criticized by China, which quickly imposed a blanket ban on seafood imports from Japan and alleged that the discharge puts “the world at risk of nuclear contamination.”
Kamikawa also held bilateral talks with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken that saw the two stress the importance of “peace and stability” in the Taiwan Strait and reaffirm the need for “upholding international law in the East and South China Seas,” according to the U.S. State Department.
While the tough talk against China has become somewhat boilerplate in recent years, the Japanese Foreign Ministry’s readout of the meeting pointedly did not mention Taiwan or the East and South China seas, saying only that the two allies would “work closely in addressing issues related to China” while also stressing the “importance of cooperating” with Beijing on “shared challenges.”
Both the U.S. and Japan have voiced a particular interest in the fate of democratic Taiwan, which China claims as a renegade province that must be united with the mainland, by force if necessary. Some senior Japanese lawmakers have said that a Taiwan emergency would represent an existential crisis for Tokyo, while Kishida has warned that a crisis akin to the Ukraine war could also occur in East Asia.
But Kamikawa appeared to tone down Japan’s concerns in these areas as Tokyo looks to stabilize relations with its powerful neighbor and top trading partner, especially amid their ongoing row over the Fukushima water discharge.
Meanwhile, Kamikawa and Blinken also pledged that Japan and the U.S. will further deepen trilateral cooperation with South Korea to help respond to the growing nuclear and missile threats from North Korea, which has unleashed an unprecedented number of missile tests in recent months.
Ahead of her talks with Blinken, Kamikawa also met with British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira.
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