Newsletter No. 27
June 28, 2005

 

JAPAN REACTS TO THE IRANIAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

The Japanese government and media have reacted to the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the new president of Iran. The official statement from MOFA is as follows:

1) On June 24, a runoff election of the Presidential election of the Islamic Republic of Iran was held and Dr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mayor of Tehran, was elected President. Japan expects that new President Ahmadinejad will continue domestic reforms and that he will work on various policies including the nuclear issue while placing importance on Iran's relations with the international community.

2) Japan attaches importance to its relations with Iran, an important Middle Eastern country, with which it has enjoyed friendly relations including high-level exchanges in such fields as politics, economy and culture. Japan hopes that such traditionally friendly relations will further advance and expand.

The Japanese media reaction, however, expresses more worry and concern than the official statement. The Mainichi Shinbun, for example, notes that the issue of nuclear development is of great interest to Japan. If Iran’s nuclear program is in fact aimed at developing nuclear weapons, then this is likely to have a negative effect on the North Korea issue one way or another.

Additionally, the economic relations between Japan and Iran are deep and strong. Iran supplies about 16% of Japan’s oil and is the third largest supplier behind Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Futhermore, Japan is currently engaged in a very large project in developing the Azadegan oil field.

Project Director Seiya Ito stated that “Whether the moderate faction or the radical faction wins in the election, the country’s important industry will not be pushed into a corner. The basis of the Azadegan oil development project will not be shaken.” However, the Nikkei reports that many Japanese businessmen are feeling despair that US-Iran relations will get even worse, and thus bring even greater political pressures on Japan from Washington.

Japan has long shown a greater degree of independence from the US in its relations with Iran than is often seen in Japan-Arab relations, for example. In the 1960s and 1970s Japan became heavily invested in the Shah’s Iran because they calculated that Iran would be more politically stable than the Arab Gulf States. Japan was thus hit especially hard by the Iranian Revolution in 1979. During the US-Iran hostage crisis, Japan resisted extraordinary US pressures to maintain diplomatic relations with Iran, in large part to salvage the huge Iran-Japan Petrochemical Company (IJPC) project of Mitsui & Co.

Despite hostility from Washington, Japan has maintained an independent line on Iran ever since that time. In large part this reflects business interests. For example, as reported in Shingetsu Newsletter No. 5, Itochu has just partnered with Iran’s state-owned National Petrochemical Co. in a polyethylene plant near Bushehr. However, it is also probably true that many Japanese leaders feel that the United States is a little bit irrational when it comes to the issue of Iran.

Japan had been a supporter of the attempted reforms of the Khatami era. It will be interesting to see how matters develop under President Ahmadinejad.

 

Sources:

Asahi Shinbun, “Iran Daitoryo—Furiko ga Yureta no ka (The Iranian President: Did the Pendulum Swing?),” Asahi Shinbun, June 26, 2005.

Asahi Shinbun, “Kaikaku Rosen Keisho to Kaku Mondai Taio Unagasu—Nihon Seifu ga Kaidan (The Japanese Government Encourages Iran to Continue the Reforms and Resolve the Nuclear Issue),” Asahi Shinbun, June 26, 2005.

Hirata, Munehiro, “Tomadou Nihon Seifu (Iran Elections: The Perplexed Japanese Government),” Mainichi Shinbun, June 26, 2005.

Mainichi Shinbun, “Iran Daitoryo-sen—Tai-Bei Kaizen no Doryoku o Wasurezu ni (The Iranian Election: Don’t Forget to Make Efforts to Improve Relations with America),” Mainichi Shinbun, June 26, 2005.

Nihon Keizai Shinbun, “Nihon no Sangyokai Shitsubokan Tsuyomeru (Japanese Industry Increasingly Despairs about Iran),” Nihon Keizai Shinbun, June 26, 2005.

Yomiuri Shinbun, “Iran Daitoryo Hoshu Kyokoha ni—‘Tai-Bei Kankei Akka Osore’—Seifu Boeki Toshi e Eikyo Chushi (The Iranian President is of the Hard Right: ‘There is Fear of a Worsening of American Relations’: The Government Will Watch for an Effect on Trade and Investment),” Yomiuri Shinbun, June 26, 2005.

Yomiuri Shinbun, “Iran Daitoryo-sen—‘Kaku’ no Fuan o Isso Fukameru Kekka da (The Iranian Elections: Concern about Nuclear Weapons Deepens All the More),” Yomiuri Shinbun, June 26, 2005.