Japan's new administration wants to strengthen ties with

ASEAN
I NTERNATI ONAL RELATI ONS
Abe advocates 'security diamond' against
China
Since assuming office at the end of 2012, Japan's new prime minister has started
conducting a diplomatic offensive to counteract China's influence in the Asia-Pacific
region.
It is usually traditional for a new Japanese prime minister to make his first foreign trip to the US, but
Shinzo Abe broke with tradition and made his first trip to Southeast Asia. After his finance minister
went to Myanmar, and his foreign minister went to Singapore, Brunei, Australia and the Philippines,
Japan's new head of state set off for Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia.
This diplomatic offensive is an indication of the new Japanese administration's growing economic and
strategic interests in Southeast Asia. Abe wants to curb China's growing military and commercial clout
in the region. He wants to expand Japan's maritime competence and combine it with the country's
economic strengths.
"Currently, the strategic environment in the
Asia-Pacific region is going through a dynamic
change," he said ahead of his four-day trip.
"During this change, having closer relations
with ASEAN countries contributes to the
region's peace and stability and is in Japan's
national interest."
'Democratic security diamond'
Last year before the elections, Abe outlined his
ideas about national security in the Asia-Pacific
region in an essay that received little attention. An English translation was published by Project
Syndicate at the end of the year. The hawkish politician argued for more assertiveness in foreign
policy, more confrontation than reconciliation.
His core idea is to form a democratic security diamond and thus curtail China's strive for hegemony.
"I envisage a strategy whereby Australia, India, Japan, and the US state of Hawaii form a diamond to
TOP STORIES / WORLD / ASIA
Although uninhabited, the Senkaku / Diaoyu Islands are a
cause for great tension
Anti-Japan protests flared in China last year
safeguard the maritime commons stretching from the Indian Ocean region to the Western Pacific," he
wrote. "I am prepared to invest, to the greatest possible extent, Japan's capacities in this security
diamond."
Abe also proposed to expand cooperation with India in business and defense, saying that the two
countries should "join together to shoulder more responsibility as guardians of navigational freedom
across the Indian and Pacific Oceans." He also admitted that he had "failed to anticipate that China's
naval and territorial expansion would advance at the pace that it has since 2007."
"Increasingly, the South China Sea seems set to
become a 'Lake Beijing,' which analysts say will be
to China what the Sea of Okhotsk was to Soviet
Russia: a sea deep enough for the People's
Liberation Army's Navy to base their nuclear-
powered attack submarines, capable of launching
missiles with nuclear warheads. Soon, the PLA
Navy's newly built aircraft carrier will be a
common sight - more than sufficient to scare
China's neighbors."
The Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, which
China calls the Diaoyu Islands and lays claim to, were also mentioned in Abe's analysis. He warned
that by the seemingly ordinary presence of law-enforcement vessels in the region, "China seeks to
establish its jurisdiction in the waters surrounding the islands as a fait accompli."
"If Japan were to yield, the South China Sea would become even more fortified," he insisted.
Five principles
As he sought partners in Southeast Asia with a similarly critical view of China, he argued along similar
lines. He presented the five principles of his ASEAN policy in Indonesia - most were indirectly aimed
at Beijing.
"The first is protecting freedom of thought, expression, and speech in this region where two oceans
meet. These are universal values that humanity has gained and they must be allowed to flower to the
fullest."
"The second is ensuring that the seas, which are
the most vital commons to us all, are governed
by laws and rules, not by might."
"The third principle is pursuing free, open,
interconnected economies as part of Japan's
diplomacy. We must secure the power of
networking by bringing our national economies
closer together through flows of trade and
investment, people, and goods."
Abe's diplomatic offensive has not gone uncriticized in China but has also raised concern in the US.
Last week, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell called for calm
during a trip to Tokyo: "We've made very clear our desire to see cooler heads prevail and the
maintenance of peace and stability over all."
His remarks came after a comment by Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida that China was
responsible for the escalation of tensions.
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Japan-China trade recovers despite island spat
Date 21.01.2013
Author Martin Fritz / act
Related Subjects Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN)
Keywords Japan, China, ASEAN, Abe, Shinzo, Sino-Japanese relations, Senkaku Islands, Diaoyu Islands, Japanese
prime minister
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