Japan follows US to return to SE Asia

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to leave for Southeast Asia on Jan. 16, paying a visit to Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia. Before that, Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida just returned from the visits to the Philippines, Singapore, Brunei and Australia.

There are political and economic considerations for Japanese leaders' frequent visits to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries.

Politically speaking, Japan has always been following the footsteps of the United States, and frequent visits to ASEAN countries are aimed at keeping pace with the U.S. strategy of returning to Asia. In addition, Japan hopes to take the opportunity to court the ASEAN countries, so that it can form an alliance on the East China Sea and South China Sea issues and take a favorable position in the establishment of Asia-Pacific political and security pattern in the future.

Economically speaking, Shinzo Abe is eager to revive the Japanese economy after reelected as the prime minister. As one of the most dynamic regions in the world economy, Southeast Asia is obviously important to Japanese economic growth.

Japanese foreign minister's visits did not reach a result as he expected

Fumio Kishida mentioned China at every place during his just-concluded trip to Southeast Asia. He came to an agreement with Philippine foreign minister on strengthening bilateral cooperation in maritime security on Jan. 10, in an attempt to contain China by deepening cooperation with the Philippines.

On Jan. 11, he exchanged views with Singaporean foreign minister on the Diaoyu Islands issue and the situation in the South China Sea. On Jan. 12, he said in a talk with Bruneian foreign and trade ministers that dealing with China was a common issue of both Japan and Brunei. Singapore and Brunei hoped Japan to exercise restraint on the Diaoyu Islands issue and maintain good relations with China. Australian foreign minister did not also think that deepening relations with Japan conflicts with strengthening of Australia-China and Japan-China relations.

Senior researcher at the East Asian Institute of the National University of Singapore Zhao Hong told the reporter of People's Daily, "Japan and some Southeast Asian countries have territorial disputes with China so all of them have the need of balancing China." Director with the East Asian Institute of the National University of Singapore Zheng Yongnian said that the AESAN countries heavily depend on China in economy, so Japan is impossible to ""encircle" and contain China by allying with these countries.

Director with Center on Asia and Globalization under the National University of Singapore Huang Jing said that Shinzo Abe visited Southeast Asia because he had no other choices. The United States does not want to receive Shinzo Abe because it has realized Japan's tendency of nationalism. Japan is frequently in conflicts with its neighbors and the right-deviational political tendency is getting increasingly obvious, which has made a stir in the world. Therefore, Japan places its hope of reviving domestic economy on the Southeast Asian market.

Huang said that Japan's economy relies heavily on exports and the Southeast Asian region stands out during the downturn of world economy. Another purpose for Japanese leader's visits is to further develop the Southeast Asian market and revive its domestic economy.

"For Japan, the ASEAN countries are both an important production base and a huge consumer market. The wild goose-type mode of division of labor has become outdated and now Japanese enterprises are faced with competition from Chinese and South Korean enterprises in Southeast Asia," an associate representative of Japan-ASEAN commission for economic and industrial cooperation told the reporter. With the establishment of ASEAN Free Trade Area in 2015, Japanese enterprises will move more research and development centers and headquarters to the ASEAN countries because the products developed there can better meet the needs of local people.