Newsletter No. 475
News-Analysis
December 31, 2006

 

SUMMARY OF EVENTS IN JAPANESE-ISLAMIC RELATIONS FOR NOVEMBER 2006

There were three major stories in November:

1) The U.S. midterm elections resulted in a sweeping victory for the opposition Democratic Party. This was widely perceived as a repudiation of Bush Administration foreign policies, and was bound to have global consequences.

2) President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia came to Tokyo in late November and signed a series of important agreements with Japan, including a milestone Economic Partnership Agreement.

3) Qatari Energy and Industry Minister Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah made an extended visit to Tokyo and promised that Qatar was ready to greatly expand LNG shipments to Japan.

The first issue was of prime importance to the future of Japanese-Islamic relations in many ways, but its precise effects remained to be seen. The Bush Administration’s policies were (somewhat inadvertently) encouraging the rapid rise of the political Right in Japan, including the emergence of the Abe Administration itself. The victory of the Democratic Party seemed to herald significant changes in US foreign policy, which would affect all the other players as well.

Tensions have been apparent in Japan-Indonesia relations for some time, but the Indonesian president’s visit to Tokyo and the vitally important FTA between Japan and Indonesia seem to indicate a strong bilateral intention to put these difficulties behind them. Japan-Indonesia relations are still very complex, but for now they seem to want to strengthen their links, especially economically.

Japan has been facing a series of problems in regard to securing its supplies of oil and LNG in the last few months, and so the message of Qatari Energy and Industry Minister Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah was extremely welcome. Al-Attiyah announced that his country was expanding LNG production, and quite eager to sell these new supplies to Japan. The little emirate thus brought some relief to worried policymakers in METI and elsewhere.

Aside from the major stories, the following smaller or more subtle events also occurred in November:

1) An Uzbek-Japan business forum was held in Tashkent.

2) Vice-Foreign Minister Midori Matsushima visited Bosnia to attend a ceremony and ponder Tokyo’s future policies toward that young state.

3) After an interval of several years, Japan and Azerbaijan held talks in Baku to discuss the expansion of bilateral economic ties.

4) Reports emerged that Japanese companies were interested in developing oil fields in southern Iraq.

5) The Sudanese foreign minister visited Tokyo, but the event mostly involved Japanese criticisms of Khartoum’s policies in Darfur.

6) There were local criticisms in Mindanao over some aspects of the Japan-Philippines FTA, and its potential local impact.

7) Diplomat Tatsuo Arima visited Damascus as a special envoy.

8) Japan and Kuwait prepared to negotiate a new tax treaty.

9) Japan provided a new loan to Oman to upgrade its port facilities.

10) Japanese companies invested in Qatar’s Laffan Refinery.

11) A joint partnership between Mitsubishi and a Kuwaiti company won a bid to build a new desalinization and power plant project in Saudi Arabia.

12) The JBIC opened a new office in Amman.

13) Japan joined together with other nations in establishing an anti-piracy center in Singapore, to secure the Malacca Straits.