Mr. Abe's stance and the fate of two Japanese citizens?

(Baonghean) - An event that has been attracting the world's attention in the past few days is the fact that the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) group has publicly demanded that the Japanese government pay a ransom of 200 million USD within 72 hours or it will kill two Japanese hostages on Tuesday, January 20. Thus, the deadline for paying the ransom will expire at exactly 5:50 a.m. (GMT) on Friday. Meanwhile, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has declared his firm stance, determined not to pay ransom to IS. There have been many different opinions surrounding the attitude of the head of the Japanese government.

Immediately after cutting short his trip to the Middle East to return to Tokyo, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held a press conference at his private residence on Wednesday (January 21).

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at a press conference. Photo: AP

Mr. Abe continued to affirm the tough stance as he had said before: never surrender to the terrorists' demands: "I have instructed members of the government to find every measure to rescue the two hostages, using all diplomatic channels, all diplomatic avenues that we have built. But Japan will never give in to the terrorists' demands."

Japan has never paid ransoms in hostage situations, and certainly has no reason to do so in this case. Japan signed an agreement with the G8 group of nations in 2013, which stated, “We must take a clear stance on refusing to pay ransoms to terrorists, and we must also call on other countries to implement this policy.” Many Japanese people, when asked, also expressed support for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s stance. They said that saving the two hostages was important, but they could not make concessions to terrorists.

However, many people also fear for the lives of the two hostages when it comes to the kidnapping of American journalist James Foley in northern Syria in November 2012. IS demanded 100 million euros (equivalent to 132 million USD) in ransom, said Richard Byrne, spokesman for the Global Post website where Foley worked. However, neither Global Post nor the Foley family nor the US government paid that ransom. The end result was that extremist gunmen murdered Foley and published the execution video online. Meanwhile, many rumors say that the recent release of two Italian aid workers kidnapped in Syria more than 5 months ago was thanks to a ransom of 15 million USD that the Italian government negotiated with Al-Queda forces. And in fact, Italy has paid ransoms for its citizens when they were taken hostage before.

So why don't rich countries like the US and Japan spend a small portion of their huge national wealth to save the lives of their citizens?

One perfectly valid reason for this is that neither IS nor Al Qaeda are credible terrorist groups in the world. Paying ransoms does not guarantee release. And paying ransoms can create other dangers, such as encouraging more kidnappings and enriching their coffers. As US Undersecretary of the Treasury David Cohen argued in 2012: “Demand payments lead to more kidnappings, which lead to more ransoms, and the cycle repeats itself until ransoms become the primary source of funding for terrorist attacks.”

While the Japanese government is trying to contact the kidnappers, the deadline for paying the ransom for the hostages is approaching. That also means the lives of the two Japanese hostages are in danger. Will IS kill the two hostages as threatened? The fact that IS publicly demanded the ransom and gave the Japanese government a deadline implies that IS is simultaneously trying to strengthen its budget as well as intimidate Japan for helping the coalition in the fight against IS. The ransom demanded by IS is also the same amount that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged during his trip to the Middle East on Saturday to provide non-military aid to countries fighting against IS.

However, Japan believes that IS is misunderstanding Japan and the $200 million will focus on helping refugees displaced by the conflicts in Syria and Iraq.

"We do not want to fight the Muslim world, we just want to help the more than 10 million refugees in this region. This is a humanitarian act and non-military support. We want IS to understand this and release the hostages immediately," Japanese Cabinet Secretary Suga said on Thursday (January 22). And Japan hopes these messages will discourage IS gunmen from harming Japanese hostages like those of countries directly involved in anti-IS efforts in Syria and Iraq.

However, according to Mr. Hisham Hashimi, an Iraqi security expert, negotiations with the Islamic State militant group are an important factor in preserving the lives of the two Japanese hostages. He suggested that the Japanese government should contact the intelligence agencies of Jordan and Turkey to seek reconciliation with Iraqi tribes, because these tribes are close to the Islamic State. According to Mr. Hashimi, negotiating with the Islamic State organization about ransom, in any form, will maintain the safety of the hostages, and the Islamic State may extend the payment period, which was previously stipulated at 72 hours.

Anyway, the 72-hour deadline is passing, the fate of the two Japanese hostages is a question that the Japanese Government as well as Mr. Shinzo Abe himself cannot answer because Japan has not received any contact from the self-proclaimed Islamic State IS after all its efforts.

Huong Giang (Provincial Radio)