Newsletter No. 841
News-Analysis
December 10, 2007

 

NEW DEFINITION FOR JAPAN-TAJIK RELATIONS

On December 4th and 5th, Tajik President Emomalii Rahmon (formerly known as Emomali Rahmonov with various spellings) paid an official visit to Tokyo. This visit follows by only about two weeks that of his Central Asian counterpart, Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev. This was Rahmon’s third visit to Japan, the previous occasions being in May 2001 and in February 2003, well before the Shingetsu Newsletter began.

Photo: Talks between President Rahmon and Prime Minister Fukuda
Source: Kantei

On the 5th President Rahmon and Prime Minister Fukuda held talks at the Kantei. Fukuda was quoted as saying: “Tajikistan, located right next to Afghanistan, is playing a crucial role for the stability of the entire regions of Central and South Asia. We are determined to further strengthen friendly and cooperative relations with Tajikistan.” Rahmon expressed his appreciation for that and also for Japan’s aid efforts in his country.

Rahmon’s visit also included meetings with Emperor Akihito, Foreign Minister Komura, as well as two interested LDP politicians, Masakatsu Koike and Kyoko Nakayama.

Even bigger news is that on December 3rd a certain Davlatali Shomahmadovich Saidov presented his credentials to Emperor Akihito, and thus became Tajikistan’s very first ambassador to Japan. For its part, Japan has maintained an embassy in Dushanbe since January 2002. That leaves Turkmenistan as the only Central Asian country without a permanent representative in Tokyo.

Discussion

Of the five Central Asian republics that emerged from the Soviet Union in 1991, it is Japan-Tajik relations that seem to be the hardest to define. This country, of course, fell into a civil war immediately after independence that lasted until 1997. The war ensured that independent Tajikistan got off to a slow start. It has also been crippled by its apparent lack of natural resources other than aluminum, and its mountainous landscape that makes travel difficult. Tajiks are very closely related to Persians (Iranians). The population of the country is little more than seven million.

However, as Prime Minister Fukuda indicated in his comments, Tajikistan borders on Afghanistan, China, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan, and so that gives it a certain degree of strategic importance for some countries. Indeed, then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said in July 2006: “Tajikistan is an important Central Asian country... They've been very cooperative in the Global War on Terror and helpful since almost the beginning… We look forward to strengthening our relationship in the weeks and months and years ahead.”
Reports say that Tajikistan offers the United States air-space rights and refueling privileges at Tajik airfields, but there are conflicting reports about whether or not there are permanent US forces on the ground.

In the past Japanese aid seems to have focused on relief for natural disasters such as droughts, floods, and mudslides. One media report asserts that Japan has given a total of about US$89 million in aid and technical assistance to Dushanbe since bilateral relations began.

The focus for aid projects seems to be turning toward important infrastructure such as roads, bridges, and water projects. The most heralded of these projects is the construction of the Dousti-Nizhny Pyandzh roadway, which will terminate at a new bridge spanning the Oxus River and the border with Afghanistan. Remember that then-Foreign Minister Taro Aso himself called attention to this project in his June 2006 policy speech on Japan-Central Asia relations.

One area where Tokyo has balked, however, is in regard to yen loans. The Asahi reported back in July of this year that MOFA is leery of offering yen loans to the country because of the tiny country’s already high level of debt.

The same Asahi article quoted President Rahmon as saying at that time: "There are many fields, such as natural resources, transportation and communications, in which we can cooperate with Japan. We hope that Japan will help promote the development of Central Asia."

For now, this is what we can say about Japan-Tajikistan relations: It centers on grant aid, with infrastructure projects now taking the lead. The prospects for major trade and business relations are dim. But with a Tajik ambassador now finally based in Tokyo, perhaps both parties will give further thought about modest projects that they can accomplish together.