Abe trip yields limited results

Expert expresses doubts over Tokyo's bid to play mediator in Middle East conflict

Tokyo's efforts to mediate conflicts and to expand influence in the Middle East met limitations, experts said as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe concluded his five-day trip to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Oman, and returned to Tokyo on Wednesday.

"The aims of Abe's Gulf tour were threefold judging from the available information: to secure its oil supply amid tensions between the United States and Iran; to win support for the dispatch of Japan's naval forces to the region and to help mediate and prevent an uncontrolled military escalation," said Yu Qiang, a researcher of Japan studies at the University of International Relations in Beijing.

"The three goals were a united, purposeful approach composed of interrelated parts," Yu said. "Its (the tour's) results, however, turned out to be limited."