The United States tries to secure supplies of TNT to Japan for 155mm artillery shells, while Washington rushes weapons and ammunition to Ukraine for a planned counter-offensive against Russian forces.
For pacifist Japan, any purchase could be controversial, as export regulations prohibit Japanese companies from selling deadly goods abroad, such as the howitzer shells that Ukraine fires daily at Russian units occupying the southeastern regions.
Nevertheless, the Allies appear to have found a solution to enable TNT sales amid global ammunition shortages, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters news agency.
“There is a way for the United States to buy explosives from Japan,” one of those with knowledge of discussions on the matter in Japan on condition of anonymity told Reuters, citing the sensitivity of the issue.
Export restrictions for dual-use items or commercially sold equipment are less strict than for items with a purely military purpose.
Tokyo, which hosted US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin this week, has told the US government it will allow the sale of industrial TNT because the explosive is not a military-use-only product, the other source said.
The US wants to add a Japanese company to a TNT supply chain to supply explosives to US military-owned munitions factories and package them in 155mm shell casings, the person added.
Japan’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Economy declined to say whether a Japanese company had approached it about TNT’s exports. It added in an email that items not subject to military restrictions would be assessed under regular export rules that take into account the buyer’s intent, including whether their use would interfere with international security.
Japan’s Defense Ministry Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Agency declined to comment.
The US State Department did not directly respond to questions from Reuters about whether the US planned to buy TNT in Japan, but said Washington was working with allies and partners “to give Ukraine the support it needs” to defend himself.
Japan, it added, “has shown leadership in supporting the defense of Ukraine”.
Happy to help
Japan has already imposed sanctions on Russia over its large-scale invasion of Ukraine and has offered aid in the form of non-lethal aid such as body armor and food rations.
Following Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to Japan at the G7 leaders’ summit in Hiroshima last month, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida agreed to donate jeeps and trucks.
Kishida wants to help Ukraine because his government fears a Russian victory would encourage China to attack the self-governing island of Taiwan and embroil its country in a regional war.
Last year he warned Ukraine would be “East Asia” tomorrow, and his government announced Japan’s biggest military buildup since World War II.
There seems to be growing acceptance in Japan for providing military aid to Ukraine, but the level of lethality is controversial, said Tsuneo Watanabe, a senior fellow at the Sasakawa Peace Foundation.
“The fact that Japan has decided to give trucks to Ukraine shows that things are changing. However, there seems to be no political consensus yet on the issue of sending deadly aid,” he said.
Japan is one of dozens of allies Washington is asking to help arm Ukraine as it grapples with stretched military supply chains.
South Korea, which also uses 155mm shells, is one of the countries approached by the US. A South Korean defense official told Reuters Seoul’s stance against providing lethal aid to Kiev had not changed.
Asked in Tokyo this week about the possibility of a shift in Japan’s deadly aid policy, Austin said at a news conference that any change would be a matter for Japan, but that “any bit of support” for Ukraine was “always welcome.”
The sources who spoke to Reuters declined to identify the Japanese company that would supply explosives to the US government and did not say how much TNT Washington wanted to buy.
Reuters contacted 22 explosives manufacturers listed on the Japan Explosives Industry Association website. The only one to say it made industrial TNT was Chugoku Kayaku, a Hiroshima-based company that supplies the Japanese military.
“We have not received any direct investigation from the US government or US military,” the company said in an email.
When asked if it discussed TNT selling through an intermediary, the company, which lists an industrial TNT product on its website, said it did not disclose the identities of customers or potential buyers.