In late August, Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi visited four Central Asian states to build a new framework of regional dialogue. The creation of the "Central Asia Plus Japan" forum means that Japan is pushing strategic diplomacy in the geopolitically important Silk Road region, surrounded by Russia, China and the Middle East.
All four nations -- Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, and Turkmenistan (which she did not visit) -- are Islamic states. The region's strategic environment has transformed since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States; not only because of their close ties to neighboring Russia and China but also because U.S. forces have been stationed in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan since the Afghan War. Central Asia has become an arena of big-power rivalry among the U.S., China and Russia.
Stability in Central Asia and Japanese support for Afghan reconstruction are closely intertwined. Japan is beginning to exercise political influence in the region not only through official development assistance (ODA), but also by promoting regional dialogue. This is bound to delicately affect the nation's relations with the U.S., China and Russia.