Japan did not voice opposition Monday to a U.S. plan to provide cluster munitions to Ukraine for its counteroffensive against Russia, with some NATO members concerned over the supply of the weapons ahead of their summit later this week.
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno refrained from making a direct assessment on the U.S. plan, but the top government spokesman said Tokyo has confirmed Washington's commitment to mitigating the impact of the weapons on civilians in Ukraine.
Matsuno said Japan has been aware that the United States will offer cluster munitions designed to minimize the risk of unexploded ordnance and Ukraine will use them exclusively within its territory while trying to reduce harm to those not in the military.
On Friday, Washington said it will provide the weapons to Kyiv for the first time ever as part of an $800 million military aid package to support Ukraine in its ongoing war, launched by Russia in February 2022.
In the run-up to the two-day summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization from Tuesday in Lithuania, some of its members, including Britain, Germany and Canada, have expressed their opposition to the use or provision of the weapons.
U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida are scheduled to participate in the gathering. Japan is not a member of NATO, but the Asian country is a partner of the trans-Atlantic alliance.
Under the Convention on Cluster Munitions, the weapons, which release numerous smaller bomblets to kill people indiscriminately and can also leave unexploded ordnance leading to unintended civilian deaths afterward, are banned by more than 100 nations.
The United States, Russia and Ukraine are not parties to the convention. Matsuno said at a press conference on Monday that Japan, as one of the signatories of the framework, will make efforts to call on as many nonmembers as possible to join the grouping.
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