Japan envoy won’t comment on Bangladesh election being ‘an internal matter’

He says they are willing to help out Bangladesh in security issues

Iwama Kiminori, who succeeded Ito Naoki as the Japanese ambassador to Dhaka, has declined to comment on the general election of Bangladesh saying it is the country’s “internal affair”.

It was a stark contrast to Naoki’s comment on the 2018 election when he said he had heard ballot boxes being “stuffed” on the eve of election day and that he had never heard of anything similar in another country.

The remarks in November last year drew criticism from the political circles.

“I don’t know what my predecessor said. At this moment I would like to refrain from any comment on internal affairs,” Kiminori said on Wednesday at the Embassy of Japan while responding to questions about Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s trip to Japan.

“Strategic issues and policy related to the two countries… of course, what happened is the government changed. That kind of hypothetical issue is also there. So, I refrain from any comments on internal affairs.”

Kiminori, who appeared at the press briefing to speak about Hasina’s visit to Tokyo, said the relations between the two countries were transforming into a strategic partnership with a focus on specific goals.

A strategic partnership is not limited to political and security matters as economy, development and relationship between the people of the two countries also fall in it, he added.

Countries, including the United States, European Union and Japan, and alliances have announced strategy papers to work on the Indian and Pacific Ocean regions.

The foreign ministry made public an Indo-Pacific outline for Bangladesh recently.

Mentioning that Japan welcomes the move, Kiminori said it had many similarities and dissimilarities with Japan’s views but that can be discussed later.

“We have just received the written form. It would be premature to evaluate the content of the outlook by the government of Bangladesh now.”

“We discussed the security concerns in the Indo-Pacific region as a whole. Each country has its own security issues.”

During her trip to Tokyo, Hasina signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Japan on transfer of defence equipment and technology.

“At this moment, the details of the equipment, hardware and so forth have not been finalised but discussion is underway,” Kiminori said.

The Japanese government has undertaken a fresh scheme, Official Security Assistance, to provide assistance in security to other countries.

“If the Bangladesh government wants, we can respond to the request. We have conducted discussions, Bangladesh and Japan; they can use this new scheme.”

“Bangladesh has cooperation with other countries as well on defence. [Japan] has had defence cooperation in broader terms for several years.”

“We can strengthen the defence and security cooperation as we have done before. I don’t think it is contradictory for Bangladesh to pursue the Belt and Road Initiative of China and agree with the Japanese government on the FOIP.”