The ongoing situation in which trade through the Strait of Hormuz is almost totally disrupted is having a grave impact on energy security and socio-economic activities in around the world, including Asian countries like Japan. Although the current crisis was difficult to predict, one lesson is that resilience in the supply chains of critical commodities such as energy must continuously be strengthened in normal times. As the Japanese proverb goes, “Preparedness averts future worries.” Japan is able to deal with the shortage by releasing its oil reserves, which amount to about eight months of domestic consumption. A portion of the oil being released comes from the joint crude oil stockpile with the UAE.
From the standpoint of securing our supply chains, enhancing the resilience of Asian countries with close links to the Japanese economy is equally important. On April 15, Japan announced the “Partnership on Wide Energy and Resources Resilience Asia” (POWERR Asia). Through approximately $10 billion in financial co-operation and related measures, the initiative aims to support Asian countries in strengthening the resilience of supply chains for energy and critical materials. Under this initiative, Japan also seeks to co-operate with the UAE in developing joint crude oil stockpiling arrangements.
These efforts form part of the “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” (FOIP) vision for international order that Japan has been promoting since 2016. The core principles of FOIP are freedom, openness, diversity, inclusiveness and the rule of law. Based on these principles, Japan has promoted various forms of co-operation with like-minded countries in pursuit of international peace and prosperity. In recent years, the free and open international order based on the rule of law has increasingly come under challenges, making the FOIP initiative all the more important. At the same time, this initiative is gaining wider support in the international community.
On May 2, in a speech delivered during her visit to Vietnam, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi unveiled an “updated Free and Open Indo-Pacific”. The purpose is to update FOIP in light of the significant changes in the international environment over the decade since it was first announced. Ms Takaichi emphasised that, in order to realise the vision, it is essential for countries in the region to “increase resilience” and “have freedom to decide for themselves” across the economic, social and security domains in the challenging environment where countries are interdependent in a complex manner.
To this end, Ms Takaichi expressed her intention to promote both its own efforts and co-operation with partner countries in three priority areas. These three priority areas are important for any country seeking its own security and prosperity.
The first is “building economic infrastructure for the age of AI and data”. Specifically, this includes strengthening supply chains for critical materials, protecting and developing AI- and data-related infrastructure, and establishing “safe, secure and trustful” innovation ecosystems. Japan’s “Hiroshima AI Process” promotes the development of international rules for advanced AI systems, including generative AI, from the perspective of “safety, security, and trust”. The UAE, along with other like-minded countries, participates in this framework, and further co-operation is expected in such areas as AI governance, human resource development and digital infrastructure.
The second is “co-creation of economic growth opportunities through public-private collaboration and rule sharing”. This seeks to continue promoting trade and investment while co-creating business markets through solving challenges in the Global South by leveraging Japanese expertise and technology. In this context, UAE’s economic diplomacy which aims at creating a new economic network linking Asia, the Middle East and Africa through Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements (Cepa) is aligned with FOIP’s emphasis on “connectivity” and “resilience”. The conclusion of the negotiation for Japan-UAE Economic Partnership Agreement in March this year is expected to further co-operation bilaterally and beyond.
The third is the further strengthening of capability in the areas of law enforcement and security. This includes building multilayered security co-operation frameworks, enhancing law enforcement and defence capabilities, and working together to strengthen deterrence. Maritime security, in particular, is a critically important element from the perspective of ensuring the security of sea lanes and maintaining international movement of goods. Japan has deployed its Self-Defence Forces for counter-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden and off the coast of Somalia, as well as promoted co-operation in the field of maritime law enforcement with the authorities in various countries.
The three priority areas under the updated FOIP are essential elements for countries seeking to safeguard their security and economic security so as to achieve economic prosperity under today’s international circumstances. The new FOIP slogan – “to be more resilient and prosperous together” – will be realised through concrete co-operation between Japan and its partners.
As demonstrated by the fact that then-prime minister Shinzo Abe first announced FOIP in Kenya a decade ago, this initiative is not a geographically confined concept but rather one that is open to the broader international community. Indeed, the UAE along with other Gulf countries occupies an extremely important geostrategic position as a nexus connecting the Indo-Pacific and Africa, which is particularly relevant to FOIP’s emphasis on “connectivity”.
Particularly with respect to Japan-UAE relations, co-operation is expanding beyond the traditional energy sector into a broad range of fields including AI, space, startups and defence since 2020 when the two countries elevated their ties under the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Initiative. The areas in which Japan and the UAE are advancing cooperation overlap significantly with the priority areas of the updated FOIP, reflecting the UAE’s own policy orientation toward resilience and self-reliance. It is hoped that the current Strait of Hormuz crisis will serve as a turning point for Japan and the UAE to deepen mutual co-operation in enhancing not only our respective resilience and capability to decide our own paths, but also those of Asian countries more broadly. I believe such steady efforts during normal times will undoubtedly prove valuable in times of national crisis.
