Japan seeks French backing as Macron begins Asia trip in Iran war’s shadow

Emmanuel Macron touched down in Tokyo on Tuesday with a packed agenda and a receptive audience in a Japanese government anxious about a choked oil route and looking for support amid its diplomatic falling-out with Beijing.

The French president’s three-day visit, before he heads to South Korea later in the week, comes as Japan looks to Europe for solidarity amid a crisis in the Strait of Hormuz that has sent oil prices soaring.

The backdrop to Macron’s meetings with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, whom he last met on the sidelines of November’s G20 summit in South Africa, is a diplomatic rupture months in the making.

It erupted late last year after Takaichi told parliament that military action against Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, justifying the deployment of its Self-Defence Forces.

China’s foreign ministry has said her remarks crossed a “red line”. Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China to be reunited by force if necessary and does not countenance foreign governments weighing in. Most countries, including Japan, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi attends a parliamentary session in Tokyo on Thursday. Photo: AFP

In the months since, Chinese military manoeuvres around Japan had intensified, said Guibourg Delamotte, a professor of political science at the National Institute of Oriental Studies in Paris and a visiting senior research fellow at the University of Tokyo.