By Chen Yang

October 30, 2015

"According to reports, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe paid a whirlwind tour to Mongolia and then to five countries in Central Asia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, during October 22-28. This was the first visit by a Japanese prime minister to Central Asia in nine years and meanwhile the first time of visiting the five countries in one trip.

Geopolitically, Central Asia sits at a special location. But Japanese politicians didn't realize its importance until late 1990s, and the official intergovernmental exchanges with Central Asian countries started in 2004 when then foreign minister Yoriko Kawaguchi launched the Central Asia plus Japan Dialogue. The mechanism prompted the 2006 visit to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan by then prime minister Junichiro Koizumi. But as none of his successors kept office for long, there had been no further progress in Japan's relations with Central Asian countries. In this sense, Abe's tour shows the stability of his government, which has been rare in Japan."

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