Simultaneously, Japan wants to maintain its energy ties with Russia. Japan will make sure its energy supplies are not affected by sanctions the United States recently imposed on the Arctic LNG 2 project in Russia in which it has a stake, Industry Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said early November.
The Arctic LNG 2 project is to be launched next month, with shareholder Japan eligible for 2 million metric tons of LNG per year, or 3% of total imports, once the plant is fully operational in the second half of this decade, according to a report in Reuters.
The project’s full capacity is 19.8 million tones per year, of which 80% are destined for Asia. “We recognise that this is an important project for Japan’s stable energy supply in the LNG market, where supply and demand are expected to remain tight for the time being,” Nishimura said, according to the Reuters report.
Japan is also a shareholder in the Russian oil project Sakhalin 1 and the Sakhalin 2 LNG plant in the Russian Far East.
However, it is not just Japan alone, which wants to maintain energy ties with Russia. SE Asia’s biggest economy, Indonesia, is of the opinion that ASEAN considers Russia as the main supplier of grain. Across the ASEAN region Russian companies are implementing solutions in the region’s countries in the areas of digital technologies, urban infrastructure, education and healthcare systems.This July, foreign ministers of ASEAN member states and Russia, while reviewing the achievements of the ASEAN-Russia Strategic Partnership made over the past five years, noted the significant contribution of the ASEAN-Russia relations to the ASEAN integration and community-building process across the three spheres of political-security, economic and socio-cultural, as well as outlining a comprehensive framework for future cooperation. The Russian private sector has shown growing interest in Southeast Asia.“As Russia recognised the long-term shift in global politics, it repeatedly stated its intent to improve relations with the Asia-Pacific. The National Security Strategy lists the goals of Russian foreign policy: to develop the partnership with China and India, to ensure regional stability in Asia-Pacific, and to support regional multilateral institutions, including ASEAN and its various formats,” wrote Nivedita Kapoor in a paper titled ‘Russia’s Pivot to Asia – A 10-Year Policy Review’ for Valdai Club.
“This linkage of the Asia-Pacific to Moscow’s Greater Eurasia plan underlines the importance of the region to its overall positioning in an evolving international order. The same sentiment also informed the foreign policy concept of 2016, which included the idea of establishing a joint development space for ASEAN, SCO and the EAEU, maintaining peace in Northeast Asia and building ties with Japan,” Kapoor pointed out. Russia has sought to position itself as an independent player in the region and seeks a multipolar Asia.