{"id":82725,"date":"2023-10-05T11:30:50","date_gmt":"2023-10-05T00:30:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=82725"},"modified":"2023-10-05T11:21:51","modified_gmt":"2023-10-05T00:21:51","slug":"japans-struggle-to-sell-its-ideals-in-the-pacific","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/japans-struggle-to-sell-its-ideals-in-the-pacific\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan\u2019s struggle to sell its ideals in the Pacific"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

Geopolitics in the Pacific islands has become increasingly crowded and complex. With China\u2019s growing economic and strategic influence, shifts in the regional order have seen a power struggle emerge between may of the region\u2019s democracies and China.<\/p>\n

In this context, the diplomatic strategies of the US, Australia, New Zealand and Japan towards Pacific island countries (PICs) are at a critical juncture as each country aims to protect the current order and to secure and increase its presence in the Pacific.<\/p>\n

Japan has convened the Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting (PALM) every three years since 1997, bringing its leaders together with those of 14 PICs: the Cook Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. Government representatives from Australia and New Zealand also participate, and since the eighth PALM (PALM8) in 2018, leaders of New Caledonia and French Polynesia have attended.<\/p>\n

The PALM has been a cornerstone of Japan\u2019s diplomacy towards PICs, and has become especially important to Japan as its presence in the region is being gradually overshadowed by China\u2019s increasing influence.<\/p>\n

Since PALM8, Japan has used the meeting as an opportunity to push its \u2018free and open Indo-Pacific\u2019 strategy, an evolving set of documents that profess a vision of the Indo-Pacific as a region where actors cooperate to protect the rule of law, promote free trade, respect sovereignty and ensure freedom of navigation. Japan hopes to achieve this through cooperation with countries sharing these values, with the result a more stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific.<\/p>\n

Japan has looked to deepen its partnership with PICs by inviting Pacific leaders to support the strategy, but has struggled to the garner their full support. Because the PICs want to avoid being involved in a power struggle between the US and its allies and China, they are hesitant to openly endorse a free and open Indo-Pacific framework, which some suspect is primarily a containment strategy against China.<\/p>\n

At the 2018 meeting only Papua New Guinea, Fiji, the Federated States of Micronesia, Palau and Marshall Islands declared their explicit support for Japan<\/a>\u2019<\/a>s framework<\/a>. Other PICs probably regarded it as mostly a way to gauge their appetite for containment measures against China, and their hesitance was likely compounded by Japan introducing the idea of involving PICs in the framework only two months<\/a> before the meeting. Pacific leaders would have felt they had insufficient time to consider the framework.<\/p>\n

Two years later, at the October 2020 PALM ministerial interim meeting, several PICs indicated that they still lacked a clear understanding of the role expected of them if they were to support Japan\u2019s approach. They requested more detail from the Japanese government, reflecting lingering suspicions about it being for the purpose of containment. Despite Japan\u2019s efforts to focus on the strategy\u2019s cooperative elements and insistence that it isn\u2019t directed at China specifically, these suspicions persist.<\/p>\n

In June this year, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida unveiled the government\u2019s \u2018new plan\u2019 for a free and open Indo-Pacific<\/a>. Along with partnership with India, it underscores the need to support principles such as diversity, inclusiveness and openness in the region. It emphasises that Japan\u2019s \u2018vision\u2019\u2014the term it now uses instead<\/a> of \u2018strategy\u2019\u2014doesn\u2019t exclude or divide, or impose values other countries, and it focuses on presenting its mission as cooperative and inclusive.<\/p>\n

At PALM10, scheduled for 2024, one of the main agenda items will likely be sustaining and strengthening the free and open international order in the Indo-Pacific region. The Japanese government is sure to use this chance to seek the PICs\u2019 endorsement of its slightly rebranded plan.<\/p>\n

Whether they see Kishida\u2019s softened approach as sufficiently distinct from a containment strategy will determine the outcome of years of diplomatic effort from Japan. Throughout the PALM10 process, diplomats must engage deeply with PICs\u2014providing a credible explanation of Kishida\u2019s updated conception of the free and open Indo-Pacific, actively listening to PICs\u2019 perspectives, and understanding their concerns and addressing their objections\u2014if Japan is to achieve its goal at last.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Geopolitics in the Pacific islands has become increasingly crowded and complex. With China\u2019s growing economic and strategic influence, shifts in the regional order have seen a power struggle emerge between may of the region\u2019s democracies …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1822,"featured_media":82731,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[294,56,135,2160],"class_list":["post-82725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-diplomacy","tag-indo-pacific","tag-japan","tag-pacific-islands"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nJapan\u2019s struggle to sell its ideals in the Pacific | 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\/japans-struggle-to-sell-its-ideals-in-the-pacific\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Japan\u2019s struggle to sell its ideals in the Pacific | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Geopolitics in the Pacific islands has become increasingly crowded and complex. With China\u2019s growing economic and strategic influence, shifts in the regional order have seen a power struggle emerge between may of the region\u2019s democracies ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/japans-struggle-to-sell-its-ideals-in-the-pacific\/\" \/>\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=\"2023-10-05T00:30:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-10-05T00:21:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/GettyImages-631857346-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"683\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Noriyuki Segawa\" \/>\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=\"Noriyuki Segawa\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 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\/japans-struggle-to-sell-its-ideals-in-the-pacific\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/GettyImages-631857346-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/GettyImages-631857346-1.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":683,\"caption\":\"Japan's Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida (R) delivers his speech beside Micronesia's Foreign Minister Lorin Robert (L) and Vanuatu's Foreign Minister Bruno Leingkone (C) during the Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting (PALM) third Ministerial Interim Meeting photo session at the foreign ministry's Iikura guesthouse in Tokyo on January 17, 2017. The meeting was attended by ministers and officers from 14 Pacific islands countries, Australia and New Zealand. \/ AFP \/ Toshifumi KITAMURA (Photo credit should read TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA\/AFP via Getty Images)\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/japans-struggle-to-sell-its-ideals-in-the-pacific\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/japans-struggle-to-sell-its-ideals-in-the-pacific\/\",\"name\":\"Japan\u2019s struggle to sell its ideals in the Pacific | The Strategist\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/japans-struggle-to-sell-its-ideals-in-the-pacific\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-10-05T00:30:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-05T00:21:51+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/3feb152fe7936b4f6bf8bf5186b6cfa5\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/japans-struggle-to-sell-its-ideals-in-the-pacific\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/japans-struggle-to-sell-its-ideals-in-the-pacific\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/japans-struggle-to-sell-its-ideals-in-the-pacific\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Japan\u2019s struggle to sell its ideals in the Pacific\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/3feb152fe7936b4f6bf8bf5186b6cfa5\",\"name\":\"Noriyuki Segawa\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba4a20264289b6bd28d68162133185ba?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba4a20264289b6bd28d68162133185ba?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Noriyuki Segawa\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/author\/noriyuki-segawa\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Japan\u2019s struggle to sell its ideals in the Pacific | The Strategist","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/japans-struggle-to-sell-its-ideals-in-the-pacific\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Japan\u2019s struggle to sell its ideals in the Pacific | The Strategist","og_description":"Geopolitics in the Pacific islands has become increasingly crowded and complex. With China\u2019s growing economic and strategic influence, shifts in the regional order have seen a power struggle emerge between may of the region\u2019s democracies ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/japans-struggle-to-sell-its-ideals-in-the-pacific\/","og_site_name":"The Strategist","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org","article_published_time":"2023-10-05T00:30:50+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-10-05T00:21:51+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":683,"url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/GettyImages-631857346-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Noriyuki Segawa","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ASPI_org","twitter_site":"@ASPI_org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Noriyuki Segawa","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@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\/japans-struggle-to-sell-its-ideals-in-the-pacific\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/GettyImages-631857346-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/GettyImages-631857346-1.jpg","width":1024,"height":683,"caption":"Japan's Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida (R) delivers his speech beside Micronesia's Foreign Minister Lorin Robert (L) and Vanuatu's Foreign Minister Bruno Leingkone (C) during the Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting (PALM) third Ministerial Interim Meeting photo session at the foreign ministry's Iikura guesthouse in Tokyo on January 17, 2017. The meeting was attended by ministers and officers from 14 Pacific islands countries, Australia and New Zealand. \/ AFP \/ Toshifumi KITAMURA (Photo credit should read TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA\/AFP via Getty Images)"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/japans-struggle-to-sell-its-ideals-in-the-pacific\/","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/japans-struggle-to-sell-its-ideals-in-the-pacific\/","name":"Japan\u2019s struggle to sell its ideals in the Pacific | The Strategist","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/japans-struggle-to-sell-its-ideals-in-the-pacific\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2023-10-05T00:30:50+00:00","dateModified":"2023-10-05T00:21:51+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/3feb152fe7936b4f6bf8bf5186b6cfa5"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/japans-struggle-to-sell-its-ideals-in-the-pacific\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/japans-struggle-to-sell-its-ideals-in-the-pacific\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/japans-struggle-to-sell-its-ideals-in-the-pacific\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Japan\u2019s struggle to sell its ideals in the Pacific"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/3feb152fe7936b4f6bf8bf5186b6cfa5","name":"Noriyuki Segawa","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba4a20264289b6bd28d68162133185ba?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba4a20264289b6bd28d68162133185ba?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Noriyuki Segawa"},"url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/author\/noriyuki-segawa\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82725"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1822"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82725"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82725\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82734,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82725\/revisions\/82734"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}