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Dexter Faulkner - Plain Truth
JAPAI'S
STAKE
IITHE
MIDDLE
EAST
The economic survival of Ja–
pan is at stake. Wi/1 a new
world role be forced on Japan
to meet the need for Middle
East oil?
P
EACE IN
the Middle East is a
crucial concern to the Japa–
nese. With dedication and re–
sourcefulness, the Japanese have set
astounding records in industrial
production and economic growth.
These accomplishments are now
thrown into jeopardy by an unstable
Middle East.
Needed - More Than an
Energetic People
Japan's greatest natural resource
may be her energetic people. But it
is another forro of energy that Japan
must have in order to maintain her
record of achievement and her na–
tional existence!
That is oil.
Most of the citizens of Japan are
painfully aware that over 80 percent
of the oil which powers the nation's
steel, textile and manufacturing in–
dustries, fuels its transportation, and
heats, cools and lights its cities,
comes from the Persian or Arabian
Gulf. Forty-three percent comes
from Arab nations that instituted
production cutbacks of 25 percent to
"nonfriendly" nations, the category
in which Japan was placed in 1973.
Fortunately for Japan, only Iran, a
non-Arab oil supplier in the region
(Iran now supplies about 37 percent
of Japan's oil needs), did not slash
scheduled production.
The resultant fuel shortage could
not have come at a worse time,
warned Kazutaka Kikawada, chair–
man of the board of trustees of the
Japan Committee for Economic De–
velopment. (Japan was already ex–
periencing soaring inftation and
material shortages ranging from as–
phalt to zinc!)
No other advanced nation is so
vulnerable to an oil crisis. This is–
land nation of 105 million people
must import fully 99 percent of its
oil supply. With oil consumption
growing at a rate of around 17 per–
cent a year, Japan has been unable
to accumulate more than a one- to
two-month reserve.
On top of that , Japan
is
depen–
dent on politically vulnerable Amer–
ican and European oil companies
operating in the Middle East for
supplying the bulk ofher oil needs.
Japan 's Worldwide Search
for Oil
Only recently have Japanese com–
pll.nies successfully pursued inde–
pendent oil development.
The spectacular Japanese search
for additional supplies extends
around the globe. Exploration and
development projects are in opera–
tion in Alaska, Canada, Peru, Co–
lombia, Zaire, Nigeria, Australia,
Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and
South Vietnam.
Japan expects to triple its oil im–
ports from the People's Republic of
China to 3 million tons this year.
It
also hopes to participate in the de–
velopment of Siberia's oil and gas
deposits in return for supplies of
crude oil and natural gas.
Yet despite her most desperate ef–
forts, Japan must continue to de–
pend on the Middle East for
approximately 85 percent of its oil
for at least five more years, accord–
ing to Yasuhiro Nakasone, who is
the head of MITI, Japan's powerful
Ministry of International Trade and
Industry.
Oil's Turbulent Wave
Any cutback in supplies immedi–
ately restricts the Japanese econ–
omy. Less than adequate oil means
less than adequate power. A full two
thirds of aU power sources in Japan
are generated by petroleum. Fully
77 percent of Japan's total electric
power production is generated by
oil-burning steam plants.
In addition, petroleum is the raw
material component for the vast
petrochemical industry, which pro–
duces plastics, textiles, tires, soaps
and detergents, medicines, fertilizer
and insecticides.
Cutbacks in production mean less
PLAIN TRUTH February 1974