The Japanese PM, Shinzo Abe, plans to visit the Middle East amid Japan's plan to dispatch its Self-Defense Force to guard commercial shipments and gather intelligence to alleviate the high tension. (Image via Euronews)

Abe to visit the Middle East in 2020 amid dispatching naval force

On Friday, the Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, stated his agenda next year to visit the Middle East. The state visit will take place as early as January 2020 amid Japan’s decision to send its Self-Defense Forces (SDF) personnel to protect the commercial shipment.

The Japanese government was determined to send a destroyer and P-3C patrol planes for intelligence gathering as well.

According to the official sources, the Japanese PM is expected to visit two countries: Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Revealed during an interview, Abe said that he will visit both countries as early as January 2020 if “conditions permit”.

Abe’s visit to the Middle East is to help the region regain its stability as the Middle East is an important supplier of 90 percent of crude oil for resource-scarce Japan. Therefore, Abe said that if the Middle East fails to regain its stability, Japan and its people will be impacted as well.

Making way for Abe, Japan’s Minister of Defense, Taro Kono, had gone to a state trip to the Middle East, precisely to Oman and Djibouti, from Friday. The P-3C patrol planes were dispatched on anti-piracy activities in Djibouti, and Oman was set to be refueling station for Japan SDF’s destroyer.

Middle East is in the middle of a heating tension between Iran and the United States (U.S). The conflict started when the U.S withdrew from the 2015 JCPOA deal in 2017 and instead imposed a round of economic sanctions on Iran.

Recently, due to assaults of oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S called the world to join in defending the region in a coalition. However, Japan, as an ally of both the U.S and Iran, chose not to join the U.S-led coalition in fear of hurting its bilateral relations with Iran.

Source: https://bit.ly/2Q1yFPk