Saudi Crown Prince Cancels Japan Visit Due to King Salman's Health Concerns

 

Concerns over the health of his father, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, have prompted Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to postpone his four-day visit to Japan this week, according to Japan's senior government spokesperson Yoshimasa Hayashi, who made the announcement late on Sunday. The Crown Prince would have made his first visit to the Asian nation since 2019 if the tour had started on Monday as scheduled.

Crown Prince Mohammed was scheduled to sign agreements to fortify liquid hydrogen supply lines with officials from various Japanese corporations, as well as Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and the nation's emperor, according to Japanese news sources. The 88-year-old father of the Crown Prince is receiving antibiotic treatment at Al Salam Palace in Jeddah for a lung infection, according to a story published by the Saudi Press Agency on Sunday. According to Saudi official media, King Salman was brought to Jeddah's King Faisal Specialist Hospital last month for "regular check-ups."

After King Abdullah's death in 2015, King Salman has been the monarch of Saudi Arabia. The king named his son to succeed Mohammed bin Nayef as Crown Prince after removing him from the role after two years. As the heir apparent to the throne, the 38-year-old Crown Prince is seen as the de facto ruler, managing the majority of the state's everyday operations. The visit to Japan that Crown Prince Mohammed was also supposed to make at the end of 2022 was cancelled right before he arrived.

"His Highness Crown Prince Mohammed's visit to Japan will be rescheduled between the two countries," Hayashi told reporters late on Sunday. A Saudi delegation will visit Japan for discussions, according to Saudi sources who spoke to AFP, even though the country's real leader won't be there. The two nations' foreign ministers chatted over the phone for fifteen minutes on Monday. As the world faces numerous crises, including those in Gaza and Ukraine, Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa of Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs offered her sincere wishes for the king's quick recovery and her desire to collaborate with Riyadh, according to a statement from the ministry. Both ministers indicated a wish to reschedule the visit as soon as possible, according to the ministry.

The relationship between

Saudi Arabia and Japan has been strengthening recently. Japan, which has the fourth-largest economy in the world, has played a significant role in supporting Saudi Arabia in implementing Vision 2030, the Crown Prince's goal to diversify the kingdom's economy away from oil dependency by making significant investments in industries like entertainment, tourism, and renewable energy. Riyadh, on the other hand, supplies Tokyo with a significant amount of petrochemicals and crude oil, totalling about $34.3 billion a year. With $42 billion in bilateral commerce in 2023, Saudi Arabia ranked as Japan's eighth-largest trading partner, according to figures from the International Monetary Fund. In the meantime, SPA stated that Crown Prince Mohammed met US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Sunday in the eastern city of Dhahran in an attempt to find a way to end the conflict in Gaza.