EurasiaNet Business & Economics - Japan Promotes Multilateralism in Central Asia

BUSINESS & ECONOMICS

JAPAN PROMOTES MULTILATERALISM IN CENTRAL ASIA
Richard Weitz 5/04/07

Lacking powerful foreign-policy tools of its own, Japan is promoting multilateralism as it strives to expand its economic and political presence in Central Asia. A key element in Tokyo’s regional strategy is close cooperation with the United States.

Japan has been diplomatically active in Central Asia of late. In 2006, former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi visited the region’s two most influential states � Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. More recently, a large Japanese trade delegation visited Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan in late April and early May. In Kazakhstan on May 1, Japanese officials expressed interest in boosting its imports of uranium from the Central Asian country. "Both sides share the recognition that Japan and Kazakhstan are mutually complimentary and strategic partners, and hope that they will develop multilayered and cooperative relations," said a joint statement.

In Uzbekistan, the Japanese delegation, headed by Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Akira Amari, met with top officials, including President Islam Karimov and Minister of Finance Rustam Azimov. The most notable byproduct of the visit was an agreement signed by the state-controlled Uzbekneftegaz and a Japanese government entity to conduct geological surveys of areas holding potential energy reserves.

Akio Kawato, a former Japanese ambassador to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, discussed Tokyo’s objectives in Central Asia during a late April presentation, titled "Does Japan matter in Central Asia?," sponsored by the Washington, DC,-based Central Asia Caucasus Institute of the Johns Hopkins University.

Kawato identified Japan’s key policy goal in the region as promoting the stabilization of Afghanistan, a development that would foster economic development and democratization throughout Central Asia. As long as the conflict in Afghanistan persisted, he maintained, Central Asians will remain worried that Islamic militants will try to exploit political openings to foment unrest. For this reason, Kawato called for a concerted international effort to pressure Pakistan into cutting off all forms of assistance to Islamic militants operating in that country’s tribal areas. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Kawato spoke at length about the "Central Asia plus Japan" initiative, which presently involves annual meetings at the foreign ministerial level and other joint activities. The ambassador portrayed the informal organization as an "open" institution, which, in principle, welcomed participation by any interested state. He contrasted this approach with that underlying the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which he criticized for being a "closed" structure that aimed to neutralize Western and Japanese influence in Central Asia.

More generally, Kawato suggested that Central Asia needed to develop a pan-continental institution, along the lines of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Kawato suggested that an OSCE-like framework could integrate the Central Asia plus Japan mechanism, the SCO, and the other regional security structures into one broad grouping of states. Another potential multilateral model worthy of emulation is ASEAN, Kawato suggested.

Although Kawato reaffirmed Japanese calls for encouraging greater democratization and respect for human rights in Central Asia, he acknowledged that "unfortunately you have to make trade-offs." The ambassador cautioned that considerable time might be needed to change what he viewed as a widespread popular preference for strong authoritarian leaders.

Kawato acknowledged that Tokyo struggled during the 1990s to respond to the new geopolitical realities in Central Asia. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, few Japanese diplomats knew Central Asian languages or had spent much time in the region. Although Japan proclaimed a "silk road diplomacy" toward the region, it had "no concrete content" and represented merely an "expression of our intention to be present in the ex-Soviet republics."

Japan continues to lack diplomatic leverage in the region, Kawato said. Its permanent diplomatic presence in the region remains relatively small, and the government in Tokyo has signaled that it is not in position to allocate additional resources to boost it. Likewise, the country’s security presence is minimal. Development efforts, meanwhile, have been hampered by high overhead costs and complicated regulations.

Even though Japan has provided several billion dollars in loans for infrastructure development in Central Asia, Tokyo is unable to keep pace with what Kawato described as the "Chinese onslaught" in the region. Central Asian leaders seem to prefer Chinese assistance because Beijing does not insist on strict lending criteria, Kawato maintained.

An example of China’s determination to keep Japanese influence to a minimum could be seen during the recent Japanese trade talks in Tashkent. Shortly after meeting with Amari, the Japanese trade minister, Uzbek President Karimov received Ma Kai, head of China’s State Development and Reform Commission. Karimov later announced the signing of a Chinese-Uzbek pipeline deal. "I personally value very highly and treasure relations of friendship and trust" between China and Uzbekistan, Karimov said in comments broadcast on Uzbek state television.

Given the general lack of transparency, high level of corruption, and underdeveloped legal codes in Central Asia, the Japanese government is finding it difficult to encourage private-sector investment in the region.

Another speaker at the April 25 presentation, Evan Feigenbaum, the US deputy assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian Affairs, characterized Japan as one of the most important external actors in Central Asia. The repeated visits of senior Japanese government officials to the region underscored Tokyo’s real strategic and political interests in Central Asia, Feigenbaum said. Tokyo and Washington are cooperating on several important infrastructure projects designed to promote strong regional economic ties, Feigenbaum noted. Most visibly, the Japanese are constructing a bridge between Tajikistan and Afghanistan.

Editor�s Note: Richard Weitz is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington, DC.

The Central Eurasia Project aims, through its website, meetings, papers, and grants, to foster a more informed debate about the social, political and economic developments of the Caucasus and Central Asia. It is a program of the Open Society Institute-New York. The Open Society Institute-New York is a private operating and grantmaking foundation that promotes the development of open societies around the world by supporting educational, social, and legal reform, and by encouraging alternative approaches to complex and controversial issues.

The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent the position of the Open Society Institute and are the sole responsibility of the author or authors.