Japan to Pursue Separate Phone Talks with Israel and Hamas... Employing Neutral Diplomacy Strategy

The Japanese government is reportedly pursuing separate phone talks with both the Israeli military and the Palestinian armed faction Hamas to calm the ongoing conflict, Asahi Shimbun reported.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida
[Photo by Yonhap News]

According to Asahi Shimbun, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is coordinating plans to hold phone conversations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Sankei Shimbun reported, "The Japanese government aims to seek a peaceful resolution to the armed conflict by utilizing its independent networks maintained separately with Israel and Palestine."

Foreign media have evaluated that, unlike Western countries, the Japanese government has chosen a balanced diplomatic approach in this situation. Previously, Japan criticized Russia alongside Western countries over the invasion of Ukraine, but it is taking a cautious stance in the current Middle East conflict. The Japanese government did not join the joint statement expressing support for Israel issued by Western G7 countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, and France.

On the 8th, Prime Minister Kishida also condemned Hamas's airstrikes on Israel on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), mentioning the large number of casualties in the Gaza Strip and urging both sides to exercise maximum restraint.

Major Japanese foreign media analyzed that Japan chose a balanced diplomatic strategy considering its high dependence on crude oil imports from the Middle East. Asahi Shimbun stated, "Japan imports more than 90% of its crude oil from the Middle East," and analyzed, "Peace and stability in the Middle East are important issues from the perspective of energy security, so Japan has built friendly relations with Israel and Arab countries."

Nihon Keizai Shimbun also explained, "Japan depends on the Middle East for crude oil imports, so it cannot help but be mindful of the positions of oil-exporting countries such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.