March 11 & 12, 2022

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo at a press conference in the Diet building on March 10 said that the government should cancel the "8-item economic cooperation plan" which former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo agreed upon with Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2016.

Shii pointed out that the Russian side at that time repeatedly stated that bilateral "joint economic activities" shall be "conducted under Russian sovereignty", and that therefore the JCP in a statement he published in December 2016 expressed opposition to the plan by arguing, "It will only encourage Russian control and will undermine Japan's sovereignty over its territory."

Shii said, "In fact, the warning I sounded at that time has become a reality," severely criticizing President Putin for trying to enhance Russia's effective control over the Chishima Islands, Habomai, and Shikotan as "special economic zones".

Shii also said that his statement also warned of a possibility that Japan's economic cooperation with Russia, when the European Union is imposing economic sanctions against Russia following the annexation of Crimea by Russia, will hamper the international effort of sanctions against Russia.

He continued to say, "This warning is also becoming a reality now again," and stressed the need to cancel the "Japan-Russia economic cooperation plan".

On the following day, commenting on the fiscal 2022 budget which incorporates government projects which will increase investment in Russia, JCP Policy Commission Cahir Tamura Tomoko said to the press that Japan should reconsider the economic cooperation plan with Russia.

Noting that the EU and the U.S. are tightening economic sanctions against Russia, she said, "Japan should also show to the world its clear opposition to Russia's invasion of Ukraine by abandoning the Japan-Russia economic cooperation plan."

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On March 11, Chief Cabinet Secretary Matsuno Hirokazu during a Lower House Cabinet Committee meeting stated that the government will suspend its projects pertaining to the bilateral economic cooperation agreement, including the Japan-Russia economic cooperation plan, for now."

Past related article:
> Shii comments on Japan-Russia summit meeting [December 17, 2016]