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タイ在住11年目、妻はタイ人、娘が2人、養女が2人

--The Asahi Shimbun, Jan. 10
EDITORIAL: Japan should not be passive bystander as tensions rise in Middle East
（社説）中東と日本　傍観者でいられない

Tensions are rising in the Middle East as Saudi Arabia and Iran are at loggerheads with each other.
　サウジアラビアとイランの対立で、中東情勢が緊迫の度を深めている。

By no means should Japan just be looking on at a time when the Middle East is standing at a doorway to further turbulence.
　中東がさらなる混迷の入り口に立っている時に、日本が傍観者でいていいはずがない。

During his New Year news conference, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe evoked the fact that Japan will assume the presidency at the Group of Seven summit this year and that Japan has become a nonpermanent member of the U.N. Security Council.
　安倍首相は年頭の会見で、日本がことし主要国首脳会議の議長国であることや、国連安全保障理事会の非常任理事国であることにふれ、こう強調した。

“(The year 2016) will be a year in which Japan’s diplomacy will lead the world,” Abe emphasized in that context. “I intend for Japan to lead the world by looking squarely at the future with a global perspective and laying out the most appropriate road map in order to foster peace and prosperity in the region and around the world.”
　「日本外交が世界を引っ張っていく１年となる」「地域や世界の平和と繁栄のために、グローバルな視点に立って将来を見据え、最も適切な道筋を示すことにより、世界をリードしていきたい」

We sincerely hope that those words will be fulfilled. And there is one thing we want Abe to do exactly for that reason.
　言葉通りであって欲しい、と切に願う。だからこそ、ここで首相に求めたいことがある。

We want him to make sure that Japan will exercise its diplomatic potential in averting a conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran, just as it will respond to the recent nuclear test by North Korea.
　北朝鮮の核実験への対応と同様に、サウジとイランの紛争回避に向けても、日本外交の力を発揮してもらいたいのだ。

During last year’s Diet deliberations on the security legislation, Abe cited potential deployment of the Self-Defense Forces to minesweeping operations in the Strait of Hormuz as a concrete example of the ways Japan will be exercising its right to collective self-defense.
　昨年の安保法制をめぐる国会審議で首相は、ホルムズ海峡での機雷掃海への自衛隊派遣を集団的自衛権行使の具体例として挙げた。

But minesweeping operations will only become necessary after a conflict has erupted.
　だが機雷除去の必要が出てくるのは、あくまで紛争が起きてしまった後の話である。

Diplomatic efforts to prevent the breakout of a conflict are the most needed at present to face the crisis that is unfolding before our eyes.
　目の前の危機に立ち向かうため、いま何よりも求められるのは、紛争が起きる前に止める外交努力にほかならない。

Along with supporting the arbitration efforts by the United States, European nations and other parties, Japan should also work with the global community in trying to find out what could be done at this moment.
　日本も、米欧を中心とした仲介努力を支えるとともに、いま何ができるのか。知恵を絞って国際社会と協調したい。

Japan possesses a diplomatic asset, which allows it to hold a dialogue, under a certain level of mutual trust, with Saudi Arabia and other Arab states, Israel and Iran, despite the historically entangled relations between the three parties.
　歴史的に複雑な関係にある、サウジなどアラブ諸国やイスラエル、イランのいずれとも一定の信頼関係の下で対話ができることは、日本外交の資産だ。

Unlike the United States and European nations, Japan has so far applied the brakes on using force overseas. We could now make the most of the confidence in Japan, which has played an original role in nonmilitary, humanitarian aid that is intended to stabilize the livelihood of Middle Eastern people.
　米欧と異なるのは、日本がこれまで海外での武力行使に歯止めをかけてきたことだ。中東の人々の暮らしの安定をはかる非軍事の人道支援で独自の役割を果たしてきた日本への信頼を、ここで生かせないか。

We should not forget that participation of the SDF in logistical support operations for foreign troops, which will become feasible under the new security legislation, could rather undermine Japan’s moral high ground.
　留意すべきは、安保法制で可能になる他国軍の後方支援活動に自衛隊が加わることは、日本の強みをかえって失わせかねないことである。

Military strength and geographical distance matter in military action. But nonmilitary diplomacy of arbitration is feasible even without strong military power or in far-flung areas.
　軍事的な行動は、軍事力の大小や地理的な遠近が影響する。だが非軍事の仲介外交なら、強大な軍事力がなくても、距離が遠い地域でも力は発揮できる。

Seeking a way to avert a conflict in a peaceful manner on the basis of the diplomatic asset that Japan has accumulated over the postwar years would be the best way for Abe to live up to the promises of “diplomacy that takes a panoramic perspective of the globe” and “proactive pacifism”--both being the prime minister’s pet slogans--in the real sense of those terms.
　戦後日本が積み重ねてきた外交的資産のうえに、平和的な紛争回避の可能性を探る。
　それこそが真の意味での「地球儀を俯瞰（ふかん）する外交」「積極的平和主義」の名にふさわしい。

Seldom do we believe there is any easy approach to doing so. But that is the sort of diplomacy that Japan should be seeking as a pacifist nation.
　容易な道だとは思わない。ただ、平和国家日本のあるべき外交の姿はそこにある。