Japan reinvigorating Trans-Afghan Pipeline?
Japanese prime minister Koizumi has embarked on his first visit to Central Asia. He will be in Astana today and in Tashkent tomorrow. The reasons for such a high-profile Japanese state visist have been analysed by Nathan last week - it is mainly about securing Japan’s access to non-Middle Eastern oil and also tapping into Kazakhstan’s huge uranium deposits.
As for the oil, a look on the map reveals that Japan would have to ship Central Asian oil via China if it was to follow a logical geographical routing. However, relations between the two Asian economic super powers remain where they are, and Japan would love to find a corridor not controlled by its giant neighbour.
The Trans-Afghan pipeline, an idea that has surfaced frequently during the late-nineties, saw its planning suspended following US air strikes on Southern Afghanistan in 1998. Although things in Afghanistan have rarely stood so badly, Japan has not given up this ambitious plan to pipe Central Asian oil and gas to the South East:
“Without a doubt, Japan sees an opportunity for imaginative, entrepreneurial activity in the general area of energy,” said Col Langton.
One such opportunity is the “southern route” - an ambitious Japanese plan for a pipeline to run from Central Asia to the Indian Ocean via Afghanistan and Pakistan, avoiding China and Russia.
So - why does Koizumi not visit Turkmenistan, whose gas deposits were the founding block of any plans on the Trans-Afghan pipeline? Peter reported recently:
The Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov may have finally lost his patience with plans being made for his country behind his back. According to a BBC Monitoring transcript of a state television report, on June 14 Niyazov criticised the European Union in failing to consult with his government over the construction of a gas pipeline through Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.
(…)
In reprising the theme if his nation’s neutrality, Niyazov also reminded his listeners of Turkmenistan’s freedom to choose its own trading partners. He stressed that at the given moment, Turkmenistan offered greater preference to commercial relations with Russia and especially China.
Niyazov made his remarks before a delegation of Japanese businessmen led by Minoru Murofushi, Itochu Corporation CEO and head of the Turkmen-Japanese joint committee on economic cooperation. […] Niyazov made some pointed observations on how the Japanese Foreign Minister recently attended a meeting of Central Asian foreign minister in which he made remarks about the construction of the TAP pipeline, again without consulting the Turkmen government.
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