Japan PM cuts short SE Asia trip due to Algeria hostage crisis

Japan PM cuts short SE Asia trip due to Algeria hostage crisis. January. 20, 2013 05:23. bae2150@donga.com.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has cut short his Southeast Asian tour of Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia to return to Japan for resolving a hostage situation in Algeria.

Chief Cabinet Minister Yoshihide Suga told reporters Friday, “Prime Minister Abe has decided to cancel his remaining schedule, including a speech on diplomatic policy, and return to Japan early after holding summit talks and a joint news conference with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono today.” Abe’s return home has been pushed up from Saturday afternoon to early morning.

In his speech on Japan’s diplomatic policy Friday night, Abe was to announce his so-called Abe Doctrine on stressing the significance of Japanese relations with the 11-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The doctrine was expected to include details on cooperation in economy, energy, maritime affairs and security guarantees. Japanese media interpreted the doctrine as a means to build up a network to contain China.

Abe phoned Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal Friday morning and said, “I hear intelligence reports that casualties have occurred because the Algerian military aggressively launched an operation to rescue hostages. I am deeply concerned over actions jeopardizing the lives of hostages and urge the military to refrain from doing it. I would like you to put the utmost priority on safe release of the hostages.”

Japanese media said the whereabouts of 14 of the 17 Japanese nationals in the Algerian location have yet to be accounted for.