Abstract: This article argues that by creating a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy” (FOIPS) in 2016, Japan has engaged in “tactical hedging” to cope with the strategic uncertainty engendered by China’s growing economic power and political influence in Asia and the Trump administration’s uncertain foreign policy towards the region. Tactical hedging refers to a declaratory policy doctrine that aims to utilize temporal strategic ambiguity to understand and determine whether any long-term strategy shift is necessary or possible. In doing so, Japan has bided its time in order to understand strategic trends and coordinate policies and principles with allies and partners—especially the United States and ASEAN—and shaped the concept of a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” (FOIP) in accordance with those consultations since 2016. Nevertheless, the emerging trend—especially the clear division between America’s more hardline stance towards China and ASEAN’s own conceptualization of the Indo-Pacific which aims to facilitate cooperation with China—indicates that the benefits of tactical hedging are diminishing, and that Japan needs to clarify its political stance if it wants to maintain its own FOIP concept as a viable strategic vision. Full text available here.
Country or Region: Japan
Basu, Titli
Abstract: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s strategic pursuit of a Free and Open Indo-Pacific, anchored in his conceptualisation of the ‘Confluence of the Two Seas’ and founded on the principles of universal values and norms, has created space for India in Japan’s grand strategy. India has been identified as a key variable in the geopolitical churning that is shaping the Indo-Pacific discourse, both in Japan and the USA. However, as policy positions are articulated by respective leaders, ambiguities around the Indo-Pacific puzzle demand more clarity. While President Trump and Prime Minister Abe are aligned in terms of pursuing the Indo-Pacific strategy – with the objective of managing the US-led strategic order amidst Chinese attempts in claiming equity in international affairs with alternative ideas, institutions, and infrastructure – Prime Minister Modi has articulated India’s Indo-Pacific vision as a free, open and ‘inclusive region, including all countries in the geography as also others beyond who have as take in it’. Although there are certain gaps in each country’s nuanced interpretation of the Indo-Pacific construct, a few common elements define the India-Japan ‘winning combination’ in the Indo-Pacific, such as upholding ASEAN centrality; the objective of securing strategic stability and economic prosperity based on the pillars of shared universal norms and values; facilitating infrastructure and connectivity between the sub-regions, including Bay of Bengal, the Mekong region, and the Indian Ocean for better economic integration and leveraging regional production networks and value chains; and securing maritime global commons by strengthening security cooperation with like-minded partners. Full text available here.
Kamath, P.G
Abstract: The question that arises is – can the countries of North East Asia cooperate and bring stability in the region? For any meaningful cooperation in North East Asia, two factors stand out that would always cast their shadow on the geo-political relations among the countries of the region. First, is the historical baggage carried by Japan for her ruthless invasions in the first half of the twentieth century. The Russo-Japanese War broke the might of a European power by an Asian power and subjected Russia to a humiliating treaty at Portsmouth. It resulted in Japanese occupation of the Korean peninsula and the resulting oppression and use of Koreans as ‘comfort women’ for the Japanese Imperial Army during the Second World War. Then was the Sino-Japanese war; the rape and sack of Nanking and the atrocities that were committed on its people by the Japanese Imperial Army, was indeed a sad chapter, as yet unforgotten in the minds of the Chinese. All this has caused xenophobia among the Chinese and Koreans towards Japan. It may take another generation to heal the wounds and soothe the minds for positive relations to be built. Full text available here.
Basu, Titli
Abstract: Since the post–war era, understanding Japan’s security rhetoric and actions presented certain incongruities. While the constructivist arguments underscore that the influence of post–war antimilitarist norm shaped Japan’s security behavior, it contradicts the realist underpinnings influencing Japan’s choices. To understand Japanese post–war security orientation and comprehend the rapidly unfolding policy shift, this paper explores three sets of questions: firstly, what are the competing schools of thought in the Japanese security debate? What are their core arguments on key issues including Article 9 of the Constitution, potency of the Self–Defense Forces (SDFs), nature of the U.S.–Japan alliance and historical narratives of Japan’s past? What are the inter-school and intra-school fault lines? Secondly, what are the drivers that propelled the dominance of each school at different time frames? How does the factional power struggle in the domestic political landscape enable each school to maximize their space and influence in the current security discourse? More specifically, why did mercantilists remained the dominant political force throughout the Cold War? In contrast, what led to normalists gaining momentum and substituting mercantilism as a potent force in the post–Cold War period? Thirdly, how have political elites pursued their competing agendas and critically analyze the case of Shinzo Abe? What are the influences that shaped his values? What are the methods he employed to pursue his ambitions of making Japan a “normal” nation? And how did he consolidate his political strength and manage to realize concrete policy objectives? Full text available here.
Haong, Hai Ha
Abstract: The paper explores the development of Vietnam’s bilateral defense diplomacy with world and regional powers including the United States, India, and Japan, with a particular focus on the period from 2009 to 2018. The paper finds that Vietnam’s multidirectional defense diplomacy is fundamentally shaped by its historical experience, the contemporary shift in the balance of power and the strategic challenges caused by China’s emerging power. By pursuing a multi–polar balance among major partners, Vietnam avoids being pulled into their rivalry, and keeps its non-alignment as well as strategic autonomy. The international defense cooperation has become further deepened and more substantive to satisfy Vietnam’s strategic interests including national security, territorial integrity, economic development and regime legitimacy. However, domestic and geo–strategic constraints, and asymmetrical economic interdependence with China lead this paper to suppose further challenges in the future of Vietnam’s defense diplomacy. Full text available here.
Chijiwa, Yasuaki
Abstract: This research discusses why Japan’s “Basic Defense Force Concept” adopted earlier was maintained amidst the widely-discussed demise of détente and the arrival of the “Second Cold War” between the United States and the Soviet Union entering the 1980s. From the perspective that perceives the Basic Defense Force Concept as a “beyond-the-threat theory,” the defense controversies that unfolded during the Second Cold War were waged between the Basic Defense Force Concept and criticisms of the Basic Defense Force Concept resembling the “counter-threat theory” based on the increasing threat recognition. As a result, the Basic Defense Force Concept was not abandoned, which probably might finish with the victory of the Basic Defense Force Concept against the “counter-threat theory.” However, that was actually not the case. The Basic Defense Force Concept began to coexist with the “Idea of Defense Force Reinforcement,” a competing theory to the Basic Defense Force Concept that took prominence during the Second Cold War, due to the “Idea of Attached Table Early Achievement” and the “Idea of Attached Table Revision and Concept Change,” considered to be a competing theory to the Basic Defense Force Concept as well, due to the “Idea of Attached Table Revision and Concept Continuation.” Full text available here.
Satake, Tomohiko
Abstract: This paper will analyze why and how US-Japan-Australia security cooperation developed in the 2000s, mainly from the allied perspective (Japan and Australia). Existing literature notes that the United States aimed to form an alliance opposing China from the start of the 2000s by strengthening relationships with its allies. In contrast, Japan and Australia’s perception of China was different to that of the United States. This especially applied to Australia, geographically distant from China, which prioritized strengthening its relations with China through diplomacy and trade over direct antagonism. Regardless of this, both Japan and Australia worked to strengthen security cooperation between Japan, the United States, and Australia based on a strategy of “supplementing” the United States’ regional and global role by furthering cooperation between its allies in peacekeeping operations and non-traditional areas of security. The strengthening of security cooperation between Japan, the United States, and Australia during the 2000s developed in order to maintain and enhance the United States’ presence based on the “hub and spokes” alliance system, rather than to directly oppose China. Full text available here.
Arie, Koichi, and Naohiko Yamaguchi
Abstract: In light of recent years’ increasing air and missile threats, both quantitatively and qualitatively, the United States, under its vision for integrated air and missile defense (IAMD), engages in programs for deterring air and missile attacks against the nation and its allies/partners and countering such attacks. IAMD explores the way to integrate attack operations, active defense, and passive defense by command and control (C2) systems against a range of air and missile threats, including attacks by ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, manned and unmanned aircraft, short-range rockets, artillery, and mortar. The IAMD vision, however, has many unknowns. The vision has been discussed extensively within the U.S. Forces, while the IAMD equipment system being developed by the U.S. Forces has made whirlwind progress. Moving forward with IAMD requires not only the integration of U.S. Force capabilities but also working with U.S. allies and partners. Japan will need to make ongoing efforts to integrate the air defense operations and ballistic missile defense of the Self-Defense Forces (SDF), while referring to the IAMD initiatives of the United States. Full text available here.
Flint, Monica
Abstract: With the increasing importance of the US-Japan Security Alliance amidst heightening regional tensions between Japan and its neighbours, the debate concerning the US base presence in Okinawa has polarised many and garnered significant attention in scholarship and the media. Using a qualitative approach, this article analyses the political rhetoric of Takeshi Onaga, who assumed office as Governor of Okinawa in December 2014. The article finds that Onaga uses an essentialist notion of Okinawan cultural identity and history as a tool for political gain to further an anti-base agenda. It contributes a new perspective to the literature on US bases in Okinawa by shedding light on the convergence of representations of contemporary Okinawan identity, ethnicity and history in the local Okinawan political debate. Further, in drawing on examples from Onaga’s Twitter and YouTube accounts, the article responds to the scarcity of literature on the relationship between social media and politics in Japan. Full text available here.
Kolmaš, Michal
Abstract: For the last few decades, the discipline of international relations has been littered with anarchy. Since Waltz’s Theory of International Politics, it has been assumed that states are formally equal sovereign unitary actors operating in an anarchic world system and that their identities and interests are defined by the very existence of anarchy. This article shatters this conception. It offers a ‘hierarchical worldview’ in order to illustrate that the very concepts of state, sovereignty, and anarchy are discursive creations inherently tied to the practice of hierarchy. I use a case study of Japanese national identity to illustrate this practice. The narratives of Japan as an autonomous and sovereign state were inextricably linked to Japan’s hierarchical relationship toward Asia and the West (pre-war) and the USA (post-war). Japan’s sovereignty and autonomy were then formulated within the practice of hierarchy. Full text available here.
Cottey, Andrew
Abstract: China’s disputes with its South East Asian neighbours and Japan in the South and East China Seas have emerged as important tests of the implications of China’s rise, posing dilemmas not just for regional states but also for other global actors, including European states and the European Union (EU). European responses to these disputes have pulled in three directions: a normative approach emphasising the resolution of disputes within the framework of international law; a power balancing approach, led by France and the United Kingdom, involving support for freedom of navigation operations and strengthened bilateral and EU ties with other Asian states; and de facto acquiescence to Chinese advances in the region. In terms of understanding EU foreign policy, this case suggests a sequence: a normative approach as the initial default EU policy; a turn to power balancing when the effectiveness of that policy is called into question, but also the possibility of acquiescence and consequent divisions amongst EU member states. Europe faces dilemmas in balancing support for the United States, Japan and the South-East Asian states with its strategic partnership with China, but in practice European policy is much closer to that of the former group than that of Beijing. Full text available here.
Abstract: This paper draws on the notion of “geopolitical culture” as a conceptual tool for understanding debates over the formulation of foreign policy in contemporary Russia. To draw out the value of this concept, the paper explores the symbolism of territory as a means for restoring Russia’s status, respect, and power. However, in contrast to previous studies, it traces the ways in which a concession of territory has been promoted as a device for achieving Russia’s great power ambitions. More broadly, the paper seeks to stimulate a wider debate on reconceptualizing the relationship between territory and identity in Russia, at the same time as it places Russia’s Far Eastern borderlands at the heart of debates on the spatial imaginaries of the Russian homeland. By drawing on and advancing recent theoretical innovations in critical geopolitics, and recognizing the significance of the discourse of nationalism within these framings, the paper explores the nuanced and multiple story lines that constitute Russia’s geopolitical culture. Through this approach, intriguing and complex plot lines and unexpected twists are revealed, which have at times been obscured by nationalist-territorial-revanchist narratives on Putin’s Russia. It is suggested that such approaches can also provide insights for interpreting cases and contexts beyond Russia and Eurasia. Full text available here.
Zhao, Hong
Abstract: As the two most significant Asian powers, competition in infrastructure sectors in Asia between China and Japan is inevitable. Japan is a long-established developer of regional infrastructure in Southeast Asia, while China’s interest in financing and building infrastructures there is relatively recent. After China proposed the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Japan stepped up its efforts, determined to expand its already well-established influence. This competition has had positive as well as negative consequences for Southeast Asia and regional financial architecture. This article attempts to use Sino–Japanese competition for infrastructure financing and high-speed railway contracts as a case in point to explore in what ways and trajectory these two countries’ competition for infrastructure investment is going on, and what impacts it will create on the region. Full text available here.
Yoshimatsu, Hidetaka
Abstract: While major arenas of Sino-Japanese struggle are maritime security affairs and political leadership in managing regional affairs, infrastructure development is emerging as a new source of rivalry. Given this new trend, this article highlights rivalry in the provision of regional institutions and programs to sustain infrastructure development and the winning of the Jakarta–Bandung high-speed railway project in Indonesia. It argues that in committing to infrastructure development, China and Japan were required to pay due attention to close connections with existing multilateral development banks and responses to the needs of a target government. Moreover, it contends that both states regarded commitments to infrastructure development as crucial vehicles to enhance political leverage and means to sustain the national economy and diffuse specific ideals for development. Full text available here.
Wang, Shan, and Meng Xiaoxu
Abstract: With Shinzo Abe’ s re-election as the president of Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), the LDP regime appears to have entered on a stable trend of long-term governance. This also marks a later phase of the Abe administration has solidified its later phase, following Abe’s second rise to power. The supremacy of the LDP and the administration of the basket of economic policies termed Abenomics have produced initial effects, and the overall climate of political opinion in Japan remains largely conservative, all factors favorable the continuance of Abe’s regime. A major task in the future to cement Abe’s political legacy would be amendment of Japan’s pacifist constitution. Abe’s political and security policies are likely not to change, namely, the promotion of multilateral cooperation in the US-Japan alliance, a moderate adjustment of Japan’s China policy, and a return to utilitarian diplomacy to maximize Japan’s national interests. Thanks to the return of the Sino-Japanese relationship to the right track, the healthy development of bilateral relations depends on the consolidation of the political foundation, deepening mutually beneficial cooperation, and constructively managing and controlling disagreement. Full text available here.
