Tokyo's Trans-Eurasian Network and Why Ashgabat Has Become a Stronghold on the Japanese Foreign Minister's Tour
At first glance, Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi's current tour of Turkmenistan, Slovakia, Austria, and Mongolia appears like a diplomatic hodgepodge. It would be hard to find two more dissimilar countries. But in modern Japanese diplomacy, there are no random itineraries. This apparent diversity conceals Tokyo's deep strategic logic, which aligns with the concept of "network diplomacy" and its updated vision of a Free and Open Indo-Pacific.
This strategic concept, actively promoted by Japan, aims to strengthen the rules of the international order, freedom of navigation and overflight, the rule of law in the maritime domain, infrastructure development, and enhancing the resilience of partners in the region. And "network diplomacy" implies building flexible coalitions and partnerships, not rigid blocs, to support these principles through multilateral projects and coordination.
Through these contacts, Japan addresses crucial geopolitical issues, bringing these countries together in a single trip for a number of key reasons. The main goal, which Motegi outlined before departing for Ashgabat, is strengthening the rules-based international order amid the unprecedented complexity of the geopolitical situation in Eurasia. This is essentially the formation of a "belt of like-minded countries" along the Eurasian axis.
Mongolia and Turkmenistan within this belt represent land hubs bordering the largest Eurasian powers. For Japan, it is crucial to keep these countries within the orbit of multi-vector diplomacy, supporting their sovereignty and, in the case of Ashgabat-its permanent neutrality as well. Slovakia and Austria, for the Land of the Rising Sun, serve as convenient Central European land hubs.
It turns out that by linking all four countries into a single route, Tokyo is building a trans-Eurasian chain of partners who advocate for the diversification of not only logistical but also, in the opinion of Japanese diplomacy, political routes.
A second, possible reason for bringing together such diverse countries on a single trip lies in pragmatism, an extreme form of rationalism characteristic of the samurai spirit, which in diplomacy has manifested itself in the independent (even of important international partners) use of multilateral formats beneficial to Tokyo.
Japan thus minimizes costs and increases the efficiency of the tour through “package” participation in regional blocs. For example, in Slovakia, Motegi will not only hold a bilateral meeting but also participate in a ministerial meeting of the Visegrad Group (named after the Hungarian city where the declaration of cooperation between Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary was signed).
And although Japan is not a member of this group but merely a partner, Motegi will, in a single visit to Bratislava, work on a working agenda with four Central European countries. This resembles a mirror image of Japan's strategy toward the Central Asian "five" (and now "six"), where Tokyo is actively developing a "Central Asia plus Japan" dialogue. In this way, the Japanese minister navigates between key regional "alliances of small and medium-sized states." And the economic heterogeneity of the countries Motegi is visiting is not a drawback, but a subtle calculation of the complementarity of Japan's interests.
In this case, Tokyo's interests lie in energy security and critical minerals. In Ashgabat, Motegi emphasized industrial projects in the gas and chemical sectors, combining Turkmenistan's abundant natural resources with advanced technologies of Tokyo, as well as green energy, hydrogen, and a circular economy. In Mongolia, the focus will be on rare earth metals.
For its part, Austria serves as a convenient platform for Tokyo to interact with international agencies (IAEA, UNIDO) and coordinate approaches to global security, while Slovakia is a powerful automotive and industrial hub in the European Union, home to production chains important to Japan.
It's also important to consider that Austria, a neutral state in the heart of Europe, shares a foreign policy sensibility with Turkmenistan. Tokyo can use Vienna to coordinate efforts to de-escalate global conflicts, recognizing that the voice of neutral countries is currently gaining particular weight at the UN. This is particularly relevant for Japan in the context of Kyrgyzstan's upcoming membership in the UN Security Council.
Therefore, Toshimitsu Motegi's visit should not be viewed as a linear itinerary. Rather, it is "carpet diplomacy." Japan is deliberately taking four very different countries, each of which is a "key" to subregions (Central Asia, Central Europe, and East Asia), and linking them with a common thread of technological partnership and commitment to international law.
But another question arises regarding the selection of countries for the head of the Land of the Rising Sun's foreign ministry: why was Ashgabat honored with a visit during such a busy Eurasian tour, while other regional capitals were left off the itinerary?
This, of course, is not a slight against the other members of the "five." Tokyo is acting in accordance with its pragmatic diplomatic model. Toshimitsu Motegi's choice of Turkmenistan is explained by strategic, economic, and institutional factors.
It would be safe to say that relations between Tokyo and Ashgabat are currently experiencing an unprecedented peak. In 2025 alone, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov made two significant visits to Japan, just over six months apart.
In April, the head of Turkmenistan visited the World Expo in Osaka, and in December, he participated in the first-ever in-person summit of heads of state of the "Central Asia plus Japan" format. Therefore, Motegi's visit to Ashgabat should be perceived as a diplomatic response and a "landing" of the agreements that the leaders recorded in Tokyo.
Moreover, in terms of capital-intensive projects, Turkmenistan is Japan's most important partner in Central Asia. No other country in the region has such a strong presence of Japanese giants such as Kawasaki, Sojitz, Itochu, and Mitsubishi. Japan has invested billions of dollars in the construction of major complexes in Turkmenistan for processing gas into ECO-93 gasoline and producing urea and phosphate fertilizers.
Furthermore, preparations are currently underway for a meeting of the Turkmen-Japanese Committee on Economic Cooperation, scheduled for December in Tokyo. Motegi flew to Ashgabat to, in addition to the official program, discuss the possibility of implementing new megaprojects in hydrogen energy, artificial intelligence, and the circular economy, as discussed during a meeting with his Turkmen counterpart, Rashid Meredov.
Moreover, Turkmenistan is particularly valuable to Tokyo due to its international legal status of permanent neutrality. In March of this year, the UN adopted another resolution on Turkmenistan's neutrality, and Japan became a full co-author of this important document.
It's worth remembering that, amidst the acute international security crisis, Tokyo is promoting its concept of a "Free and Open Indo-Pacific," and neutral Turkmenistan, equidistant from global power centers, is an ideal interlocutor for Japan to advance the principles of the rule of law in Eurasia without causing geopolitical sensitivities in some countries outside the region.
At the same time, Japan is not neglecting other countries in the region, using the proven "divide and coordinate" approach. Just recently, on August 11-12, Japanese Parliamentary Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Eri Arfiya visited Dushanbe. There, she held in-depth talks with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Tajikistan and signed major infrastructure agreements.
In this way, Tokyo distributes the diplomatic burden, with ministerial-level officials conducting targeted work with other capitals, while Foreign Minister Motegi concentrates on Turkmenistan – a major economic engine of Japanese interests in the Central Asian region.
Furthermore, next year marks the 35th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between our two countries. Tokyo, as is well known, begins preparing large-scale political packages six months to a year before these anniversaries. Therefore, there is every reason to believe that the current visit of Japan's top diplomat to Ashgabat was intended to lay the foundation for elevating bilateral relations to a "qualitatively new strategic level" just in time for this special occasion.
Japan has chosen Turkmenistan as the pivot of its economic strategy in Central Asia because it offers several complementary elements: enormous resource potential, geopolitical neutrality, and dynamic personal contacts with the country's leadership, which always plays a crucial role in the development of international cooperation.
At the same time, it's clear that the current stage of Turkmen-Japanese relations is characterized by an expansion beyond the classic gas chemistry sector. Recently, both countries have begun to view bilateral projects through the lens of the Middle Corridor. Japan is actively involved in the digitalization of the Turkmenbashi International Seaport. For Tokyo, this is a crucial logistics hub, as Japanese goods, as well as Turkmen urea and petrochemical products, gain direct and rapid access to European markets via the Caspian Sea and Azerbaijan.
The humanitarian dimension of relations also speaks volumes: the Oguzkhan Engineering and Technology University, operating according to Japanese academic standards, has been established in Ashgabat, and the Japanese language has been officially incorporated into the curricula of a number of Turkmen schools and universities.
A key feature of Turkmen-Japanese relations is that Tokyo has never attempted to act as a geopolitical mentor or dictate political terms in Turkmenistan (as it has in the Central Asian region). Japan offered Turkmenistan the status of "number one technology partner," and Turkmenistan provided Japan with a reliable, stable, and investment-attractive foothold in the heart of Eurasia.
And in the face of the turbulence that has become so tiresome, this alliance is destined to further strengthen strategically.
Bekdurdy AMANSARYEV,
Center for Strategic Studies, Institute of International Relations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan
