Right after the Tokyo Olympics came to an end, the season of diplomatic tours for Japanese politicians started.
Japanese Foreign Minister MOTEGI Toshimitsu will make a diplomatic tour of the Middle East from Sunday August 15 through August 24. He will visit 7 capitals of the countries of the Middle East and his planned itinerary signifies Japan's subtle but persistent will to be a neutral mediator in this volatile region.
In Japan, mid-August is a traditional holiday season during which people take leave and go back to their ancestral places and hometowns. Economic activities slow down, and the Diet (Japan's House of Representatives) is adjourned. During this mid-summer recess, ministers and the Diet members are accustomed to go abroad for official visits.
Under the COVID-19 restrictions, the number of official visits is to be very limited this year, but Foreign Minister Motegi didn't miss the chance and took the Middle East as his priority agenda for this diplomatic season.
His trip crosses over the strategic boundaries in the region, visiting both sides of the competing camps.
His visit starts with Egypt and ends in Qatar, between which he visits Turkey. During his traverse to these disgruntled neighbors, Mr. Motegi will say many times the mantra of Japan's Middle East policy, "The Peace and Stability."
He visits Jordan and the Palestine Authority in the West Bank as well. He took over from his predecessors the long-held Japanese commitment to the Palestine cause to which Japan has been persistently contributing to improve the life of the Palestinian people, no matter how often it looked to be in vain.
Mr. Motegi's visits to Iran and Israel will attract attention the most. Iran and Israel have been arch enemies to each other for the past 40 years, but both have been keeping cordial relations with Japan's based on amity and interests.
Both countries have recently changed the head of government and Mr. Motegi's visit seems to have been intended to be a unique opportunity to have earliest in-person diplomatic meetings with newly appointed diplomatic and security officials of those countries, to celebrate the inauguration of the new government and vow the renewed ties.
The ceremonial mood was, however, dispelled since. The attack on the HV Mercer Street, which took place on July 29 through the next day at the Gulf of Oman, suddenly threw Mr. Motegi's voyage into the rough seas. The tanker is owned by a Japanese company "Taihei Kaiun KK" based in the shipping town Imabari-City in western Japan and operated by an Israeli-owned London based company "Zodiac Maritime".
The ship might have been in a wrong place at a wrong time, incidentally caught in the middle of the shadow war between hostile countries.
Many Japanese, however, must have recalled the infamous episode that a Japanese owned tanker Kokuka Courageous was attacked and on fire at the Gulf of Oman at the time when former Prime Minister ABE Shinzo was making a high-profile visit to Iran and about to meet the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in Tehran on June 13, 2019. Iran denied its involvement in the attack and until now the perpetrator has not been determined.
Coincidences happen, but if they happen so often, one might suspect a malicious intent targeting Japan for its particular position in diplomacy.
Japan took a cautious step to probe the intention behind the attack. Japan did not go it alone but took part in a joint accusation of Iran by the Group of Seven industrialized countries released on August 6. Despite the incident and the accusations, Mr. Motegi's planned visit was not cancelled. Japan's diplomacy does not proceed with shout and clamor. During Motegi's visit to Tehran, the diplomatic rituals will be conducted seemingly in a quiet and smooth manner. The Japanese Foreign Minister, however, will see the true face of Iran in his in-person conversations with the incoming officials with foreign policy portfolio under the hardline conservative president who is anticipated to be the front runner of the race to the next Supreme Leader.
On the way to Iran, Foreign Minister Motegi visits Israel and what he will be briefed there is another focus of attention.
Japan has been aiming at playing the role of an honest coordinator of peace and stability in the Middle East, taking advantage of its neutral position to all the major actors in the region. Japan's "zero problem with the Middle East neighbors" policy, however, may not stand in the face of the heightened tension between nations with incompatible ambitions and determinations. Japan's balancing act in between the competing regional powers is challenged.
*Professor of Religion and Global Security - University of Tokyo
*Exclusive - Asharq Al-Awsat
