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| Prime Minister Shinzo Abe |
Abe’s unrelenting schedule belies a group of allies eager for Japanese participation.
Since the Japan’s delegation to the U.N. General Assembly meeting arrived on Tuesday, led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, the government has been doing what it does best abroad, promoting Japan as a strengthening security partner and consolidating its relationships across several regions and issues at once. Abe in particular has become somewhat of a diplomatic road warrior, traveling to more countries than any previous prime minister, while employing a two-pronged foreign policy approach of developing security relationships alongside investment deals for Japanese companies. However, so far during this current visit to U.N. headquarters in New York City, security has played a much more prominent role.
It began on Tuesday with the situation in the Middle East, when Kishida voiced Japan’s support for the new U.S. campaign against ISIS in Iraq and Syria through air strikes. He told U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry that Japan would cooperate by contributing humanitarian aid, and that Tokyo would increase its previous promise of nonmilitary aid from $2.8 million to $25.5 million.
While Japan has been careful not to mention any sort of assistance that could be construed as an implementation of its new interpretation of collective self-defense, it is using its familiar ties with Iran to help give Japanese allies leverage over ISIS. On Tuesday, Abe approached Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to discuss two issues that are important to Japan’s U.S. and European allies: the successful conclusion of negotiations over its nuclear program by the November 24 deadline, and Iran’s assistance in fighting against ISIS. In addition to once large investments in Iran’s energy sector that Tokyo has an interest in one day resuming, having Tehran use its substantial regional clout against ISIS could also create the bandwidth for the U.S. to return its focus to its Asian rebalance, according to a foreign ministry official who spoke with the Nikkei.
Read the full story at The Diplomat