Kishida Calls for Positive Response to Speech Offer by Ukraine Pres.

Tokyo, March 17 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Thursday called for a positive response to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's offer to give an online speech to the Diet, Japan's parliament.

"I hope that the Diet will have sufficient discussion on the matter and make a positive response," Kishida said at a meeting of the Budget Committee of the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet.

"The president is seeking cooperation from all over the world," Kishida said. "The international community must cooperate and take strong measures."

On four northwestern Pacific islands at the center of a long-standing territorial dispute between Japan and Russia, Kishida said that Russia's current control of the islands, which Japan calls its Northern Territories, has "no legal basis."

"Our position is that (the islands are) being illegally occupied," Kishida stressed. "This position remains unchanged."

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