Arab News Japan

TOKYO: In a survey conducted by Japan’s Foreign Ministry on Japan’s diplomacy, 64.3 percent of the respondents said Japan should be involved in diplomatic initiatives concerning the Middle East, while 32.6 percent said Japan should not get involved.

However, on the general matter of Official Development Assistance (ODA), 51.9 percent said it was right to offer humanitarian assistance such as medical care and food.

The Foreign Ministry conducted the survey in March and received responses from 700 adults in Japan’s 47 prefectures.

Nearly 85 percent of the respondents believe that the security environment in East Asia is becoming increasingly severe, while many believe Japan should take a strong stance on China.

Japan has territorial disputes with China and has been hawkish over defending Taiwan. Nearly 60 percent said Japan should take a “strong stance” on intrusions into Japan’s territorial waters.

Sixty percent said security was the most important issue in Japan-US relations, followed by economic matters. Sixty percent of the respondents believed “foreign information manipulation” was taking place.

Despite Japan’s poor record in accepting refugees, 43 percent said the government should promote the acceptance of evacuees from Ukraine to Japan, with a similar number saying Japan should strengthen its support for Ukraine.