Both nations push for ceasefire, free navigation through Hormuz as Macron hits back at Trump’s ‘very unhelpful’ jab
French President Emmanuel Macron with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi during a visit to Tokyo. PHOTO: AFP
Japan and France agreed on Wednesday to coordinate closely in pushing for an end to the US-Israeli war with Iran and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz to oil and gas tankers, Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said.
“Because the international situation is so challenging, I believe there is great significance in the leaders of Japan and France deepening their personal ties and making our cooperation even stronger,” Takaichi said after talks with French President Emmanuel Macron in Tokyo on security ties and industrial cooperation.
Read: US says coming days in Iran war will be decisive, urges Tehran to make a deal
“We share a belief in international law and in the international order based on the United Nations Charter, and we also believe in the democratic values that we defend. This is why… we both advocate the return to peace, to a ceasefire, to calm, and to the free movement of people and goods through the Strait of Hormuz,” Macron said.
Takaichi echoed his words, saying the two leaders had agreed “on the importance of ensuring the safety of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, maintaining a stable supply of essential materials, and calming the situation as soon as possible”.
With the Middle East conflict now in its fifth week, Japan, France and other countries are grappling with rising energy costs. Unless the conduit for about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas flows reopens, they could face shortages of petroleum products.
Japan, which normally gets around 90% of its oil from the Middle East, has begun drawing on its oil reserves to cushion the economic blow. France has held talks with dozens of countries as it seeks proposals for a mission to reopen the waterway once the conflict ends while Japan has said it could consider dispatching minesweepers, though the scope of any role would be constrained by its pacifist constitution.
The two leaders also said they would pursue closer security ties in the Indo-Pacific and signed agreements on cooperation in critical mineral supply chains, civilian nuclear technology and artificial intelligence.
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US President Donald Trump lashed out at France on Tuesday, writing on social media that Paris had been “very unhelpful” during the war with Iran, which has since spread across the Middle East.
“I’m well aware that sometimes Europe can be seen as a continent that is slower than others,” Macron told an audience of Japanese business leaders and investors in Tokyo. “But predictability has value, and we have demonstrated that over all these past years and, dare I say, even these past weeks: we are where you know we will go,” he added.
“That’s not bad, in times like these, believe me,” he said.
Further, Macron criticised countries that said they were “going much faster” than their allies, but “you don’t know whether the day after tomorrow they will still be in that position, and whether tomorrow they won’t make a decision that could hurt you without even informing you.”
