{"id":33458,"date":"2017-08-09T10:09:05","date_gmt":"2017-08-09T00:09:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=33458"},"modified":"2017-08-09T17:22:12","modified_gmt":"2017-08-09T07:22:12","slug":"asias-evolving-security-order","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/asias-evolving-security-order\/","title":{"rendered":"Asia\u2019s evolving security order"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

During his visit to Hue, Vietnam\u2019s former royal capital, earlier this year, Japanese Emperor Akihito and his entourage were reminded of their country\u2019s longstanding cultural connections with Vietnam. In the eighth century, Phat Triet, a Cham Buddhist monk from what is now central Vietnam, travelled to Japan, where he helped to popularise Cham music and dance, which was later incorporated into the Japanese imperial court\u2019s gagaku <\/em>performances. During his visit, the emperor had the opportunity to enjoy the Vietnamese version of gagaku<\/em>, which also has Cham origins.<\/p>\n

The emperor\u2019s visit to Vietnam\u2014the first by a Japanese monarch\u2014represents an important milestone in the maturing bilateral relationship, which has been buttressed not only by strong cultural links, but also by robust economic ties and growing strategic cooperation. At the end of last year, Japan was Vietnam\u2019s largest source of official development assistance (ODA), its second-largest foreign investor, and its fourth-largest trade partner.<\/p>\n

Along with closer economic cooperation in recent years, Japan and Vietnam have been strengthening strategic ties. The bilateral \u2018strategic partnership\u2019 that was established in 2009 was upgraded to an \u2018extended strategic partnership\u2019 in 2014.<\/p>\n

Defence cooperation, in particular, has progressed considerably. In 2011, Japan and Vietnam signed a memorandum of understanding to deepen defence ties, which now include exchanges of military delegations, naval goodwill visits, an annual defence-policy dialogue, and cooperation in military aviation and air defence.<\/p>\n

Much of this collaboration has centered on the South China Sea, where China\u2019s increasingly powerful navy has been asserting its sovereignty claims with increasing vigor in recent years. For example, China unilaterally established an Air Defense Identification Zone in the East China Sea and constructed seven artificial islands in the disputed Spratly archipelago, located off the coast of southern Vietnam.<\/p>\n

In late July, China reportedly threatened to attack Vietnamese bases<\/a> in the Spratlys if Vietnam did not stop its oil exploration activities in an area that lies within Vietnam\u2019s continental shelf, but also within Beijing\u2019s notorious nine-dash line. Given the 2016 arbitral tribunal ruling that China\u2019s maritime claims based on that nine-dash line are invalid, Vietnam has superior claims to the area. But Vietnam decided to back down, rather than face the risk of armed confrontation.<\/p>\n

That does not, however, mean that China\u2019s coercive actions\u2014which not only undermine Vietnam\u2019s own security, but also threaten the regional status quo\u2014are not being met with resistance. In 2013, Japan\u2019s defence minister, Itsunori Onodera, visited Vietnam\u2019s Fourth Navy Zone headquarters in Cam Ranh Bay to observe Vietnam\u2019s defence setup for the Spratlys. During that visit, Japan and Vietnam agreed to expand defence cooperation into new areas, especially modernisation of Vietnam\u2019s maritime defence agencies and military technology.<\/p>\n

At Vietnam\u2019s request, Japan has also provided the country with six patrol boats to support its defence activities in the South China Sea. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe<\/a>, visiting Vietnam in January, pledged to provide six more boats worth $338 million.<\/p>\n

Japan will also reportedly<\/a> sell Vietnam two advanced radar-based earth observation satellites. The order, expected to be delivered by 2018 and funded by Japanese ODA, will enhance Vietnam\u2019s maritime awareness in the South China Sea. Vietnam is also said<\/a> to be considering a purchase of second-hand P-3C anti-submarine and maritime surveillance aircraft from Japan\u2014a fleet that would likely be assigned to missions in the South China Sea.<\/p>\n

From Vietnam\u2019s perspective, Japan is perhaps the most important strategic partner with which to counterbalance China\u2019s maritime expansionism and constrain its hegemonic ambitions. Japan is not only economically and militarily capable; it is also willing to help its Southeast Asian neighbors, so that they, too, can contribute to maintaining the regional balance of power. Japan\u2019s power and longstanding antagonistic relationship with China reinforces the credibility of Japanese security commitments towards Vietnam and other countries in the region.<\/p>\n

Vietnam\u2019s interest in defence cooperation with Japan dovetails with the Abe administration\u2019s goal of \u2018normalising\u2019 Japan\u2019s defence posture, in order to reduce the country\u2019s dependence on the United States. Japan considers Vietnam a particularly promising security partner, precisely because of the countries\u2019 shared maritime security interests.<\/p>\n

Now that US President Donald Trump\u2019s administration is threatening to reduce military engagement with Asia, the need for strategic cooperation among regional actors is becoming even more acute. This goes beyond bilateral relationships, to include potentially the creation of a \u2018principled security network\u2019, as US President Barack Obama\u2019s administration once proposed.<\/p>\n

Such an arrangement would resemble what Anne-Marie Slaughter and Mira Rapp-Hooper have called \u2018mesh networks\u2019<\/a>, which \u2018are highly resilient, because no individual node is critical to the structure\u2019s survival\u2014even if one link breaks, the structure survives\u2019. Japan\u2019s enhanced security ties with Vietnam and other like-minded Asian countries (such as Australia, the Philippines, Singapore, and India), may lead to the emergence of such a resilient network, which can serve as a vital hedge against declining US commitment to the region.<\/p>\n

Of course, significant challenges lie ahead. Historical animosities continue to cast a shadow over Japan\u2019s relationships with some Asian countries. Vietnam recalls the dark days of occupation by Japan during World War II, when famine killed up to two million Vietnamese.<\/p>\n

But Vietnam has largely overcome its grudge against Japan. In fact, Akihito\u2019s meeting, on his recent visit, with relatives of Japanese soldiers who remained after World War II to start families with Vietnamese women served as a symbol of bilateral reconciliation. The path towards ever-deeper economic and strategic cooperation, shaped by convergent national interests, now seems clearer than ever.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During his visit to Hue, Vietnam\u2019s former royal capital, earlier this year, Japanese Emperor Akihito and his entourage were reminded of their country\u2019s longstanding cultural connections with Vietnam. In the eighth century, Phat Triet, a …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":156,"featured_media":33459,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[51,135,471,540],"class_list":["post-33458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-defence-cooperation","tag-japan","tag-south-china-sea","tag-vietnam"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAsia\u2019s evolving security order | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/asias-evolving-security-order\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Asia\u2019s evolving security order | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"During his visit to Hue, Vietnam\u2019s former royal capital, earlier this year, Japanese Emperor Akihito and his entourage were reminded of their country\u2019s longstanding cultural connections with Vietnam. 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