Macron Visits Japan Amid Middle East Energy Crisis

French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Tokyo on Tuesday for a three-day visit aimed at bolstering bilateral ties with Japan, though discussions were set to be overshadowed by the escalating war in the Middle East and its disruptions to global energy supplies.

Macron's trip, his first official state visit to Japan in several years, comes amid a monthlong conflict involving the United States and Israel against Iran, which has led to the near-closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The strait serves as a critical route for oil shipments, and Japan relies on the Middle East for 95 percent of its crude imports. Since the war began, the country has drawn on strategic stockpiles to mitigate surging fuel prices. In remarks to Japanese business leaders on Wednesday, Macron highlighted Europe's "predictability" as a stabilizing force, contrasting it with nations that might act abruptly without consultation. "You don't know whether the day after tomorrow they will still be in that position, and whether tomorrow they won't make a decision that could hurt you without even informing you," he said, in an apparent reference to recent U.S. actions under President Donald Trump, who criticized...