Newsletter No. 668
News-Analysis
July 6, 2007

 

TOKYO’S RECENT ENGAGEMENT WITH SYRIA

In recent weeks there have been some interesting moves in regard to Japan-Syria relations. Although I’m not aware of any conflict in the direct bilateral relationship, it will come as no surprise to note that Tokyo to a certain degree keeps its distance from Damascus out of deference to Washington’s policy of isolation of the Bathist regime.

However, it is clear that there is now some movement on this front. The most significant development was the visit to Damascus from June 24th to 26th of Deputy Foreign Minister Katsuhito Asano. On the 25th at shortly past 10 am, Asano actually met with President Bashar al-Assad, and, after handing over a message from Prime Minister Abe, they spoke about bilateral relations for about an hour.

Photo: President Bashar al-Assad and Katsuhito Asano in Damascus
Source: SANA

There are several accounts of what was spoken about during this meeting. According to SANA, they “reviewed developments of the ongoing regional events where the Japanese side stressed Syria's important role to preserve stability in the region.”

MOFA also released a statement on the meeting, but interestingly posted it only in Japanese, not in English. The statement says that they discussed to Lebanon issue, Iraq border control, and Syrian influence on Hamas. Asano made a statement to the effect that “Japan expects Syria to fulfill its international responsibilities in regard to these issues.” In response, President Assad “explained Syria’s fundamental thinking on each of these issues.”

Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallim, Deputy Foreign Minister Dr. Faisal al-Miqdad, and Japanese Ambassador in Damascus Masaki Kunieda also attended the meeting.

One other meeting that Deputy Foreign Minister Asano had in Damascus was with Hila al-Atrash, the Syrian minister of local administration and environment. During the meeting, they signed papers by which Japan would provide up to US$3.7 million for a project to improve equipment for solid waste treatment in Syrian cities.

Aside from the Asano visit to Damascus, the Syrian ambassador in Tokyo, Qahtan al-Syoufi, has also been busy of late. On July 2nd, he met with Foreign Minister Taro Aso. According to SANA, Aso “expressed satisfaction over the development of the existing bilateral relations between Syria and Japan in the political, economic, and cultural domains,” and “underlined importance of Syria as a pivotal country which has a political weight in the region and also its key role in helping to achieve stability and comprehensive peace in the Middle East.”

The following day the Syrian ambassador met with Emperor Akihito to convey the best wishes of President Assad. SANA asserts that the Emperor stressed “the importance of boosting relations between Japan and Syria in all domains.”

Analysis --

Frankly, I’m not quite sure why Japan is choosing this particular juncture to boost their relations with Damascus. In respect to the Iraq War, it certainly makes sense that Tokyo is eager to have better links with the Syrian government. On the other hand, in regard to Lebanon the Abe Administration has been notably outspoken in their support of the anti-Syrian Prime Minister Fuad Siniora. Why would Tokyo be lining up against Damascus on one side, while trying to enhance their direct bilateral relations on the other?

At any rate, we still don’t have a very clear idea about what Washington thinks about this growing Japan-Syria engagement, which has been apparent for at least half a year now. Is this Tokyo showing a streak of independence? Are they anticipating that the Baker-Hamilton line will eventually become US policy? Or is there something more that we don’t know yet?