Japan’s “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” strategy : Tokyo’s tactical hedging and the implications for ASEAN

This article argues that by creating a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy” (FOIPS) in 2016, Japan has engaged in “tactical hedging” to cope with the strategic uncertainty engendered by China’s growing economic power and political influence in Asia and the Trump administration’s uncertain foreign p...

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Main Author: Koga, Kei
Other Authors: School of Social Sciences
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2022
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/155568
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
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spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-1555682022-03-22T05:32:03Z Japan’s “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” strategy : Tokyo’s tactical hedging and the implications for ASEAN Koga, Kei School of Social Sciences Social sciences::Political science::International relations Japan Indo-Pacific ASEAN Tactical Hedging International Security This article argues that by creating a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy” (FOIPS) in 2016, Japan has engaged in “tactical hedging” to cope with the strategic uncertainty engendered by China’s growing economic power and political influence in Asia and the Trump administration’s uncertain foreign policy towards the region. Tactical hedging refers to a declaratory policy doctrine that aims to utilize temporal strategic ambiguity to understand and determine whether any long-term strategy shift is necessary or possible. In doing so, Japan has bided its time in order to understand strategic trends and coordinate policies and principles with allies and partners—especially the United States and ASEAN—and shaped the concept of a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” (FOIP) in accordance with those consultations since 2016. Nevertheless, the emerging trend—especially the clear division between America’s more hardline stance towards China and ASEAN’s own conceptualization of the Indo-Pacific which aims to facilitate cooperation with China—indicates that the benefits of tactical hedging are diminishing, and that Japan needs to clarify its political stance if it wants to maintain its own FOIP concept as a viable strategic vision. 2022-03-22T05:32:02Z 2022-03-22T05:32:02Z 2019 Journal Article Koga, K. (2019). Japan’s “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” strategy : Tokyo’s tactical hedging and the implications for ASEAN. Contemporary Southeast Asia, 41(2), 286-313. https://dx.doi.org/10.1355/cs41-2l 0129-797X https://hdl.handle.net/10356/155568 10.1355/cs41-2l 2-s2.0-85073362241 2 41 286 313 en Contemporary Southeast Asia © 2019 ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute. All rights reserved.
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider NTU Library
collection DR-NTU
language English
topic Social sciences::Political science::International relations
Japan
Indo-Pacific
ASEAN
Tactical Hedging
International Security
spellingShingle Social sciences::Political science::International relations
Japan
Indo-Pacific
ASEAN
Tactical Hedging
International Security
Koga, Kei
Japan’s “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” strategy : Tokyo’s tactical hedging and the implications for ASEAN
description This article argues that by creating a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy” (FOIPS) in 2016, Japan has engaged in “tactical hedging” to cope with the strategic uncertainty engendered by China’s growing economic power and political influence in Asia and the Trump administration’s uncertain foreign policy towards the region. Tactical hedging refers to a declaratory policy doctrine that aims to utilize temporal strategic ambiguity to understand and determine whether any long-term strategy shift is necessary or possible. In doing so, Japan has bided its time in order to understand strategic trends and coordinate policies and principles with allies and partners—especially the United States and ASEAN—and shaped the concept of a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” (FOIP) in accordance with those consultations since 2016. Nevertheless, the emerging trend—especially the clear division between America’s more hardline stance towards China and ASEAN’s own conceptualization of the Indo-Pacific which aims to facilitate cooperation with China—indicates that the benefits of tactical hedging are diminishing, and that Japan needs to clarify its political stance if it wants to maintain its own FOIP concept as a viable strategic vision.
author2 School of Social Sciences
author_facet School of Social Sciences
Koga, Kei
format Article
author Koga, Kei
author_sort Koga, Kei
title Japan’s “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” strategy : Tokyo’s tactical hedging and the implications for ASEAN
title_short Japan’s “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” strategy : Tokyo’s tactical hedging and the implications for ASEAN
title_full Japan’s “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” strategy : Tokyo’s tactical hedging and the implications for ASEAN
title_fullStr Japan’s “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” strategy : Tokyo’s tactical hedging and the implications for ASEAN
title_full_unstemmed Japan’s “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” strategy : Tokyo’s tactical hedging and the implications for ASEAN
title_sort japan’s “free and open indo-pacific” strategy : tokyo’s tactical hedging and the implications for asean
publishDate 2022
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/155568
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