{"id":60161,"date":"2020-11-02T14:30:41","date_gmt":"2020-11-02T03:30:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=60161"},"modified":"2020-11-02T13:28:38","modified_gmt":"2020-11-02T02:28:38","slug":"suga-signals-commitment-to-free-and-open-indo-pacific-with-vietnam-and-indonesia-visits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/suga-signals-commitment-to-free-and-open-indo-pacific-with-vietnam-and-indonesia-visits\/","title":{"rendered":"Suga signals commitment to \u2018free and open Indo-Pacific\u2019 with Vietnam and Indonesia visits"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By making Vietnam and Indonesia his first overseas ports of call, Japan\u2019s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga signalled that he intends to adhere closely to his predecessor Shinzo Abe\u2019s \u2018free and open Indo-Pacific\u2019 strategy.\u00a0Seeing that occur so clearly and so early in his term is good news.<\/p>\n

Suga was sending essentially the same message, albeit with a different emphasis, when he made his first leader-level phone calls<\/a> to his \u2018Quad\u2019 counterparts, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, before setting off to Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n

It was equally clear in Tokyo\u2019s announcement that a planned trip by China\u2019s foreign minister, Wang Yi, to prepare for President Xi Jinping\u2019s oft-delayed visit to Japan, would not be taking place. One Japanese government source<\/a> said, \u2018We are well aware that Beijing wants Wang to visit Japan at a relatively early date. But considering the various circumstances, it\u2019s still too early.\u2019 As Australian ministers and officials are well aware, it is usually the Chinese side that delays planned meetings until \u2018circumstances\u2019 change in the other state to Beijing\u2019s favour.<\/p>\n

Sound strategic reasoning lay behind Suga\u2019s decision to visit Hanoi and Jakarta, which in the former\u2019s case went beyond its status as this year\u2019s ASEAN chair<\/a>. Vietnam is emerging as arguably Japan\u2019s most like-minded<\/a> security partner in Southeast Asia, at least when it comes to geopolitics. And it\u2019s noteworthy that Suga was following in Abe\u2019s footsteps; in 2012, he also made Vietnam his first destination after returning to office for a second, and longer, term. Suga\u2019s choice of Indonesia no doubt hinged on both its geographical centrality in the Indo-Pacific and its sheer size and relative weight, in economic and strategic terms, in Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n

Suga\u2019s overarching theme throughout his trip was Japan\u2019s enduring commitment to playing a major role in a region that it sees as critical to its vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific. In both countries, he focused most of his public remarks on the two areas which Japan sees as critical to realising that vision: collaboration on regional security, and economic development through increased investment in manufacturing and development cooperation in such fields as infrastructure.<\/p>\n

His messaging was well calibrated to resonate with two nations that have already benefited greatly from Japanese investment and soft loans and that are anxious to attract more as part of their post-Covid-19 recovery plans, especially as Japanese companies increasingly shift their investment priorities from China to other parts of the region. Vietnam is a popular destination; half of the 30 Japanese companies<\/a> that have received government funding to move factories to Southeast Asia have chosen Vietnam. In Jakarta, Suga\u2019s key announceables went to trade opportunities for Indonesian products as well as Japan\u2019s readiness to keep working with Indonesia to address its infrastructure needs, notably in the transport sector.<\/p>\n

Even more salient given current circumstances was Suga\u2019s commitment of \u00a550 billion (A$670 million) in soft loans, ostensibly to boost Indonesia\u2019s disaster response capacity, but more specifically to support its Covid-19 response. Suga also committed to explore opening a travel corridor to revive commercial contact. <\/em><\/p>\n

In terms of regional security, Suga\u2019s restatement of Japan\u2019s support for ASEAN\u2019s \u2018Outlook on the Indo-Pacific<\/a>\u2019 (a document essentially of Indonesia\u2019s drafting) would likewise have struck a favourable chord in both capitals, but probably most mellifluously in Jakarta. Indonesia\u2019s foreign policy circles will interpret it as a reaffirmation of ASEAN\u2019s centrality in the management of regional strategic affairs. They will also choose to interpret Suga\u2019s pronouncements as endorsing Indonesia\u2019s hopes and aspirations for its strategy of managing China\u2019s ambitions through a web of cooperation and normative diplomacy. And they will have taken even greater heart from Suga\u2019s denial that Japan favoured establishing an Asian NATO, notwithstanding its participation in the Quad. Hanoi will have found Suga\u2019s diplomatic condemnation of the escalating tensions in the South China Sea and commitment to work with ASEAN in law- and rules-based management of the disputes a particularly welcome message.<\/p>\n

At the same time, both Hanoi and Jakarta no doubt greatly appreciated Suga\u2019s in-principle agreement to provide both countries with tangible defence support in the form of materiel and transfers of technology. Vietnam has already benefited from Japan\u2019s maritime awareness capability and training, and is interested in maintaining and expanding its range of maritime surveillance equipment. Importantly, Suga promised support in coastal security<\/a> and maritime safety in Southeast Asia, a particularly helpful move given that the South China Sea is often exploited by illegal fishing and increasingly China\u2019s illegitimate trespassing into other countries\u2019 territorial waters.<\/p>\n

Indonesia would be no less interested in Japanese cooperation in this domain considering China\u2019s readiness to have its coastguard vessels shepherd Chinese trawlers while they plunder the fisheries inside Indonesia\u2019s exclusive economic zone off the Natuna Islands. Likewise, the two sides\u2019 intention to expedite the second round of their \u20182+2\u2019 meeting of foreign and defence ministers seems aimed at flagging to Beijing that both Tokyo and Jakarta have more on their minds than just recitation of development cooperation and institution strengthening documented in the ASEAN Outlook.<\/p>\n

That said, the prospect of Indonesia wanting that message to be as pointed as those emanating from Japan\u2019s equivalent arrangements with its Quad partners, and as clearly as Vietnam might be comfortable with, remains slim. Already Indonesian politicians and analysts have generally been quick to respond to Chinese commentary alleging that the visit was contrived to contain Beijing\u2019s influence by reaffirming Indonesia\u2019s traditional \u2018free and active\u2019 foreign policy, which essentially precludes it from aligning itself with anyone. An exception was a prominent member of Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto\u2019s political party, Gerindra, who reportedly remarked<\/a> that China\u2019s behaviour in the South China Sea meant that the time had come for Indonesia to \u2018ally with America and Japan so that there is a balance in the region\u2019. However much that sentiment reflects Jakarta\u2019s justifiable anger over Beijing\u2019s actions in Indonesia\u2019s northern waters, and however appealing the idea might be to Washington, Tokyo and Canberra, such a strong formulation isn\u2019t likely to gain policy traction with President Joko Widodo and Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi anytime soon.<\/p>\n

In the final analysis, Suga\u2019s trip may have delivered more diplomatic signals than concrete statements, particularly in the security domain. But it showed, as he underlined himself, that he understands the importance of personal exchanges and gestures in foreign affairs. In a region where such intangibles register especially strongly, he gave a masterclass in diplomacy and soft power from which some other leaders would do well to learn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By making Vietnam and Indonesia his first overseas ports of call, Japan\u2019s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga signalled that he intends to adhere closely to his predecessor Shinzo Abe\u2019s \u2018free and open Indo-Pacific\u2019 strategy.\u00a0Seeing that occur …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":60165,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[56,8,135,540,2857],"class_list":["post-60161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-indo-pacific","tag-indonesia","tag-japan","tag-vietnam","tag-yoshihide-suga"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSuga signals commitment to \u2018free and open Indo-Pacific\u2019 with Vietnam and Indonesia visits | 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\/suga-signals-commitment-to-free-and-open-indo-pacific-with-vietnam-and-indonesia-visits\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Suga signals commitment to \u2018free and open Indo-Pacific\u2019 with Vietnam and Indonesia visits | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By making Vietnam and Indonesia his first overseas ports of call, Japan\u2019s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga signalled that he intends to adhere closely to his predecessor Shinzo Abe\u2019s \u2018free and open Indo-Pacific\u2019 strategy.\u00a0Seeing that occur ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/suga-signals-commitment-to-free-and-open-indo-pacific-with-vietnam-and-indonesia-visits\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-11-02T03:30:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-11-02T02:28:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/GettyImages-1229160447-e1604299515234.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"467\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Malcolm Cook\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Malcolm Cook\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\",\"name\":\"The Strategist\",\"description\":\"ASPI's analysis and commentary site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/suga-signals-commitment-to-free-and-open-indo-pacific-with-vietnam-and-indonesia-visits\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/GettyImages-1229160447-e1604299515234.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/GettyImages-1229160447-e1604299515234.jpg\",\"width\":700,\"height\":467,\"caption\":\"Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga (centre L) and his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Xuan Phuc (centre R) feed the fish at a pond at the Presidential Palace compound in Hanoi on October 19, 2020. 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