Ambassador outlines reasons behind Japan’s decision to transfer Patriot missiles to United States

The relevant statement was made by Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Ukraine Kuninori Matsuda in a special commentary to Ukrinform.

“The decision about Japan transferring Patriot to the United States derives from our considerations of first and foremost Japan’s national security, but at the same time our considerations about overall security environment in the Indo-Pacific regions,” Kuninori Matsuda said.

The diplomat mentioned that Japan and the United States are military allies.

“So, by providing Japan’s Patriot to the United States, we do hope that the United States will be in a better position to provide security to Japan as well as the entire Indo-Pacific regions. So this is our only considerations about these decisions,” Kuninori Matsuda explained.

A reminder that Japan stated earlier it would prepare to ship Patriot air defense missiles to the United States after revising its arms export guidelines, which is the nation’s first major overhaul of such export curbs in nine years.