Reassessing Asean Japan Relations

""As we celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the ASEAN-Japan Dialogue Partnership, the essays in this book remind us, and amplify the ASEAN-Japan relations. The complexities of this relationship, including the external influences which have impinged on its development over the years, are cogently discussed and recorded for the younger generation and students of ASEAN-Japan ties. The intricacy and spread of ASEAN-Japan cooperation mechanisms are also well highlighted in this book, while several thought-provoking commentaries on the future of this four-decade old partnership give pause to the reade.

This book charts the progress of ASEAN-Japan relations from their difficult wartime legacy to postwar moves at diplomatic and economic rapprochement through successive governments.

With the accession of Cambodia in April 1999, the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) finally achieved its founding vision: the incorporation of all ten South-east Asian states. However, ASEAN-10 faces an unprecedented series of challenges, stemming from the organization's rapid enlargement since 1995, economic crisis among key members, and political upheavals in Indonesia, its largest and most important member. ASEAN in 1999 is a pale imitation of the more confident organization which emerged from the end of the Cold War as one of the world's most successful experiments in regionalism. This paper asks whether ASEAN can remain relevant to the management of regional problems.

This book assesses the importance of enhanced ASEAN-Japan cooperation as a step toward a greater East Asian regional community. Fifteen international relations experts from ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries and Japan, as well as China, South Korea, and the United States, review the history and current status of this bilateral relationship and propose how it can be strengthened. Chapters review the history of ASEAN-Japan relations and the rationale for renewed emphasis on cooperation; assess ASEAN as a regional unit and Japan as a regional actor; consider the implications for the relationship of changing regional and international environments; examine the future direction of economic, political, and security relations between the two actors; and evaluate societal and cultural areas of cooperation.Contributors include Tanaka Akihiko (Institute of Oriental Cultures, University of Tokyo, Japan), Jusuf Wanandi (Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Jakarta, Indonesia), Hadi Soesastro (Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Indonesia), Soeya Yoshihide (Keio University, Japan), Charles Morrison (East-West Center), Ahn Byung-joon (Graduate Institute of Policy Studies, Japan), Zhang Yunling (Institute of Asia Pacific Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences), Jesus Estanislao (Institute of Corporate Directors, Phillipines), Narongchai Akrasanee (Seranee Holdings Co. Ltd., Thailand), Chia Siow Yue (Singapore Institute of International Affairs), Hirono Ryokichi (Seikei University, Japan), Kiuchi Takashi (Shinsei Bank, Japan), Nishihara Masashi (National Defense Academy, Japan), Jawhar bin Hassan (Institute of Strategic and International Studies, Malaysia), Carolina Hernandez (Institute of Strategic and Development Studies, Phillipines), and Yamamoto Tadashi (Japan Center for International Exchange).

The Fukuda Doctrine has been the official blueprint to Japan's foreign policy towards Southeast Asia since 1977. This book examines the Fukuda Doctrine in the context of Japan-Southeast Asia relations, and discusses the possibility of a non-realist approach in the imagining and conduct of international relations in East Asia. The collapse of 54 years of Liberal Democratic Party rule and the advent of a new Democratic Party of Japan raises the question of whether the Fukuda Doctrine is still relevant as a framework to analyse Tokyo's policy and behaviour towards Southeast Asia. Looking at its origins and norms amidst three decades of change, the book argues that the Fukuda Doctrine is still relevant to Japan-Southeast Asian relations, and should be extended to relations between China and Japan if an East Asian Community is to be built. The book goes on to discuss the Fukuda Doctrine in relation to the power shift in Asia, including the revitalization of Japan's security role. By providing a detailed understanding of a non-western perspective of Japan's relationship with Southeast Asia, this book is a useful contribution for students and scholars of Asian Studies, Politics and International Relations.

The central puzzle in the study of Japanese foreign policy has been why Japan has continued to play a passive role in international affairs, despite its impressive economic and political power. Challenging this central puzzle, the core argument of this study is to present an alternative path for the study of Japanese foreign policy. In fact, in recent years Japanese foreign policy has become less dependent on the United States, more strategic towards Asia, and more energetic towards international and regional institutions. One of the main features is multilateralism in Japanese foreign policy, as shown by Japan's active participation in the regional institutions. In pursuing multilateralism, Japan cooperated closely with the only durable regional body in Southeast Asia, to wit, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Given the fact that East Asian regionalism has been driven by ASEAN, it is of utmost urgency to investigate the emerging partnership between Japan and ASEAN. The central thesis of this study is thus to put Japan's ASEAN policy into a proper perspective by asserting that Japan's new policy initiatives towards ASEAN are not reactive, nor are they exceptions in a broader framework of merely reactive foreign policy.