Japan’s Trade Minister Yoji Muto said on Tuesday that the country will act appropriately based on its national interest, while maintaining close coordination with the international community, when asked about Russian energy imports.
Last week, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he told Japanese Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato that the Trump administration expects Japan to stop importing Russian energy. U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to visit Asia later this month.
Tokyo has agreed with other G7 countries to phase out Russian oil imports in response to Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
However, Japan continues to buy liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Sakhalin-2 project, which is vital to Japan’s energy security as it accounts for about 9% of its LNG imports.
“Since the invasion of Ukraine, Japan has been steadily reducing its dependence on Russian energy,” Muto told reporters, while declining to directly comment on Bessent’s remarks.
He added, “We recognise that LNG from Sakhalin-2 plays an extremely important role in Japan’s energy security,” noting it contributes around 3% of total electricity generation.
Japan intends to keep close coordination with the international community, including the G7, he added.
U.S. and European pressure on Asian buyers of Russian energy could restrict India’s oil imports from December, leading to cheaper supplies for China, while Japan is unlikely to halt its Sakhalin LNG shipments for now, trade sources and analysts said last week.
Washington is exerting pressure on China, India and Japan through trade talks to reduce their purchases of Russian oil and LNG, while Britain has just imposed sanctions on Chinese and Indian entities. More sanctions from the European Union could follow. Western nations say Moscow is using its energy revenues to fund the Ukraine war.
(Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; Editing by Kim Coghill)