What does こちらとしても mean?

Question

（君が）そこまでの無理を強いるのはこちらとしても不本意なんだが！

I'm confused by what こちらとしても means. Here's what I can put together so far. こちら means "this direction" and generally refers one's side or oneself. として, the Te-form of とする, means to enact, or regard something as, whatever is quoted with と. も is the including particle, and can translate into "even", "also", or "too", but will always contain an element of including.

So the most literal translation I can get is "As for forcing the impossibility of (you) going that far, even regarding me, I am unwilling.". A less literal translation, provided by DeepL, would be "I am unwilling to force you to go that far!".

But I'm still stumped by what こちらとしても is doing in this sentence. Can someone please explain what it means, why it's used, and how it can be used in other sentences please.

Answer 1

You'd better think it is として as a word on its own.

The usage in question is the same as the example:

私としては賛成でも反対でもない

As for me, I am neither for nor against it.

Here it is も instead of は, so こちらとしても literally means as for our side, too.

The sentence says "asking that much is not what is wanted on our side too (as well as on your side)".