Newsletter No. 887
News-Analysis
January 31, 2008

 

SUMMARY OF EVENTS IN JAPANESE-ISLAMIC RELATIONS FOR DECEMBER 2007

There were six major stories in December:

1) The showdown over Indian Ocean mission entered its final stages as the clock ran down on the opposition’s ability to delay approval of new legislation.

2) General Shaikh Muhammad bin Zayd al-Nahyan, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, paid an official working visit to Japan.

3) The Pakistan crisis reached a peak as opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated.

4) Tajik President Emomalii Rahmon paid an official visit to Tokyo and the Tajik embassy in Tokyo was established.

5) Washington released a surprising National Intelligence Estimate on Iran which Tokyo largely ignored.

6) The Golden Nori piracy affair ended without bloodshed.

Tensions were still high as the battle over the MSDF Indian Ocean mission reached its endgame. The government seemed determined to pass the law at all costs even as public support for the Fukuda Administration plummeted. US Ambassador Thomas Schieffer continued his rather counterproductive interventions (Shingetsu Newsletter Nos. 849 and 854).

The visit of the Abu Dhabi crown prince capped a year of major strengthening in Japan-UAE relations (Shingetsu Newsletter No. 857).

Although the assassination of Bhutto was a shocking event, Tokyo showed no signs that it was planning to break with the regime of General Musharraf. In fact, the true significance of the story was the degree to which Tokyo was willing to ignore the democratic record of the Musharraf regime (Shingetsu Newsletter Nos. 852 and 863).

Japan and Tajikistan had cordial relations for a long time, but the visit of the Tajik leader and the establishment of the embassy promised to bring new strength and definition to this bilateral relationship (Shingetsu Newsletter No. 841).

Tokyo kept faith with the top officials of the Bush Administration rather than accept the verdict of America’s own intelligence agencies. This ideological solidarity revealed once again that Japan’s policies on Iran were now being driven more by the US-Japan alliance than by the knowable facts about Iranian nuclear development (Shingetsu Newsletter Nos. 842, 860, and 868).

Details were not entirely clear, but some kind of arrangement allowed the Golden Nori affair to be resolved peacefully. This event did not turn into a fiasco as it easily might have (Shingetsu Newsletter No. 844).

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

1) It was reported that Usama Bin Ladin had discussed attacking Japanese shipping in late 2001 (Shingetsu Newsletter No. 838).

2) Tokyo criticized the Israeli government for expanding settlements in East Jerusalem (Shingetsu Newsletter No. 845).

3) The Nippon Oil Corporation was awarded a contract to begin oil exploration in a portion of Sarawak, Malaysia (Shingetsu Newsletter No. 846).

4) Negotiations were held on a possible Japan-Saudi investment agreement (Shingetsu Newsletter No. 847).

5) Aid was provided to the Chadian police (Shingetsu Newsletter No. 848).

6) Prime Minister Fukuda announced his support for the fingerprinting of foreigners (Shingetsu Newsletter No. 849).

7) The JBIC offered new yen loans for infrastructure in Bangladesh (Shingetsu Newsletter No. 850).

8) Three Japanese-made patrol boats were delivered to Indonesia (Shingetsu Newsletter No. 853).

9) Japan reached a broad agreement with Indonesia to provide financial aid for implementing measures on global warming (Shingetsu Newsletter No. 853).

10) Tokyo signaled that it would not offer airlift support for peacekeeping in Sudan (Shingetsu Newsletter No. 856).

11) Tokyo announced new aid for Mauritania (Shingetsu Newsletter No. 861).

12) The Japanese Foreign Ministry appointed a Special Representative for GUAM Affairs (Shingetsu Newsletter No. 862).

13) Tokyo began stepping up efforts to prepare for TICAD IV in Yokohama in May 2008 (Shingetsu Newsletter No. 864).

14) A new Kuwaiti ambassador was accredited in Tokyo (Shingetsu Newsletter No. 870).

15) The JGC Corporation won an order to construct an ethylene plant in Saudi Arabia (Shingetsu Newsletter No. 870).

16) Several Japanese companies tied up with Kazakhstan's state-run energy company in uranium processing for nuclear power generation (Shingetsu Newsletter No. 878).

17) Signs of enhanced Japan-Israel business relations were observed (Shingetsu Newsletter No. 879).

18) An aid package was given to improve medical services in the West Bank (Shingetsu Newsletter No. 882).