PanOrient News | Japan Hopes Egypt Continues ``Moderate`` Role

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Diplomacy

Japan Hopes Egypt Continues ``Moderate`` Role

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Tokyo- (PanOrient News) Japan hopes that Egypt "will continue to play the constructive role as a moderate stabilizing force for peace and prosperity in the region" following the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak, according to a statement issued by Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan on the situation in Egypt.

With the management of national affairs delegated to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces in Egypt, Japan will follow future development of the situation with great interest and hopes that a concrete path toward establishment of a democratic government will be promptly put forward and the situation which deviates from the Constitution will be normalized, the statement said.

Japan has enjoyed strong relations with Egypt which is a major country in the Middle Eastern and African region, and hopes that stability will be brought to Egypt promptly under a democratic government and desires to continuously develop friendly relations, the statement noted.

Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman said Friday in a televised speech that Mubarak had stepped down and instructed the supreme council of the country's military to take over the president's executive duties.

Japanese media quoted Foreign Ministry officials in Tokyo as saying that the Japanese government has been "worried" that the situation in Egypt "could prompt the emergence of Islamic extremists."

''We cannot deny the possibility that Egypt, a major power in the Middle East, may review its cooperative approach toward the United States and start taking a hostile attitude against Israel,'' Kyodo News quoted a Japanese Foreign Ministry source as saying.

To help avoid such a situation, Japan intends to consider specific ways to support Egypt in forming a new government that is peaceful and stable. ''Coordination with the United States is even more important (to this end),'' a Japanese government source said.

A committee established by the demonstrators in Cairo has called on the military to swiftly hand over power to a civilian-led government, and for the establishment of a constitution that "guarantees freedom and human Rights."

PanOrient News