TOKYO: Japan’s popular Digital Minister Kono Taro, who is bidding to become Prime Minister, says it might be time for Japan to consider recognizing Palestine.
“Japan has been supporting the two-state solution for many, many years,” he told a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan on Monday. “Maybe it’s time for us to consider recognizing Palestine as a state to make the point. Yes, we do have a good relationship with Israel, but we need to solve this humanitarian issue to make lasting peace in the region. What’s going on now is way too much.”
“I think Japan needs to do whatever it takes to support the people of Gaza and the West Bank. I would like to ask Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu how he plans to end the war. I don’t know how it’s going to end, but with 2 million people suffering that much, he could end the war. As soon as the fighting ends, we need to step up our support for the Gazan people and try to help them rebuild things.”
On the other hand, Kono is looking at allowing the export of weapons from Japan to bring in funds to pay for the increase in Japan’s defense spending. The topic has been controversial as some Japanese companies are collaborating with Israeli weapons companies and have been accused of being complicit in the genocide in Gaza.
Kono, 61, is vying to be elected as the President of the ruling Liberal-Democratic Party, which will also make him Prime Minister, as current Prime Minister Kishida Fumio is stepping down.
Kono said when he was Foreign Minister, he felt Japan should intensify its relations with Middle Eastern countries as the region greatly affects life in Japan. Kono also believes Japan needs to move away from fossil fuels and wants the country to become self-sufficient in energy – through renewable energy – by 2050. However, he says, the demand for electricity is increasing and even restarting Japan’s nuclear plants may not be enough to satisfy that demand.
“I think the first thing we need to do is we definitely need to move away from fossil fuels,” he stated. “That’s something we really need to do, and we need to really increase our renewable energy.”
On the diplomatic front, Kono toes the party line and believes in the alliance with the United States. However, he worries that politics there is going to be “more and more volatile” and the Americans might look more inward and become isolationist.
“Our priority is making good relations with the United States, whoever wins in November, and we need to maintain a dialogue with China,” said Kono, who criticized China for incursions around the disputed Senkaku Islands and for detaining Japanese citizens.
He sees greater cooperation with “like-minded countries” as necessary to restrict China’s expansionist policies and maintain a free and open Indo-Pacific.
“We need to have some allies to keep the stability and the peace in everyone’s region,” he said. “I think we need to say that we will be responsible, we will share the burden of keeping peace and stability on this planet, and Japan needs to do whatever’s required.”
“I think US-Japan security relationship is still the most fundamental base for our security and our defense, but we really need to create some kind of collective forum to keep the stability and peace in Asia. Looking at the global situation, China, Russia, those dictatorships are now trying to change the status quo with force, and we shouldn’t allow that.”
* This article originally appeared on Arab News Japan, click here to read it.
