Japan To Take Side With ASEAN

Japan, which has fallen far behind in the counter-ASAEN diplomatic competition with China, has invited the 10 summits of ASEAN, trying to win the favor of ASEAN.

The Japanese administration unveiled on December 11 that it would hold a “Special Japan-ASEAN Summit Talk” in Tokyo from December 11 to 12, in order to discuss the measure to build up mutual cooperation in diverse fields such as the economy, international security, and other issues.

The summit talk among ASEAN, South Korea, China, and Japan has already been regularized. In addition with this, it is the first time for the 10 ASEAN countries’ summits to empty their seats at the same time in order to participate in the talk with a specific country. It is evident that Japan has worked hard to hold this summit talk.

The Japanese premier, Koizumi Junichiro, who took charge of the joint chairmanship of the summit talk with Megawati Sukarnoputri, the president of Indonesia, has had 10 consecutive talks with the summits of the participating countries and promised large scale economic support to each of them respectively.

Counterattack with money – Without any preparation, Japan was humiliated with icy treatment at the “ASEAN+3 (Korea, China and Japan) Summit Talk” which was held in October at Bali, Indonesia. On the other hand, rival China succeeded in advancing the date of the Free Trade Agreement conclusion with ASEAN and achieved to spread out its influence to all over southeastern Asian countries.

Inside the Japanese administration, the feeling of crisis diffused, “If we don’t wash off the images of ‘U.S. servitude diplomacy,’ we will lose our front yard, southeastern Asia, to China.” At the recent conference with the ruling Liberty Democratic Party (LDP), Yabunaka Mitoji, the assistant foreign minister for Asia-Pacific affairs said, “We have to keep ASEAN as a firm foothold of our diplomacy, and contend with China on that basis.”

To soothe ASEAN, Japan has prepared diverse kinds of gift bundles which harmonizes well with each country’s distinctive qualities respectively.

As for Vietnam and Laos, Koizumi promised to invest $1.5 billion into the Mekong River development plan. As for Thailand, Philippines and Malaysia, he planned to initiate the FTA talk. He has also promised to support $1.5 billion to organize infrastructures of information technologies and environmental technologies related industries, and receive over 40,000 students and industrial trainees for the upcoming three years.

Critical point is cooperation in maintaining international security – On account of ASEAN’s growing anxieties about Japan’s recent movement in rearmament, Japan has worked out to make a form of nonaggression pact, treaty of amity and cooperation. In order to prevent the flow of weapons of mass destruction into North Korea, the two sides are planning to set up a special trade monitoring system.

The summit talk is scheduled to end with addressing the “Tokyo Declaration,” which is based on expanding Japan-ASEAN cooperation from economic to political and security issues.

ASEAN, although it exalts Japan’s effort, raised its voice at the talk to reflect on its elevated status due to the diplomatic competition among China, Japan and Indonesia. Though Koizumi emphasized, “Sending self-defense forces to Iraq is only for helping the reconstruction program in Iraq,” Megawati, the president of Islamic Indonesia, pointed out the problematic parts of the Japanese dispatch to Iraq, saying, “Indonesia has sent its troops overseas 27 times so far, but we have always followed the United Nations.”

parkwj@donga.com