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The brief political disruption in October 2021 that put Kishida Fumio as Japan's prime minister may restore an ideological balance within the Liberal Democratic Party, a conservative party whose strength lies in its ability to be a broad church of views on issues related to foreign and security policies. This would be important to the Indo-Pacific region where events will be shaped largely by the contests between China and the United States.

Japan-South Korea relations are vital to the maintenance of the liberal order in Asia, and yet they are also beset by bitter contest over past history of Japanese colonisation of the Korean Peninsula. Mutual suspicion that has deepened in recent years threatens to undermine the US hub-and-spokes system. There needs to be a shared sense of urgency between the two to improve relations for regional and global security amidst intensifying China-US rivalry.

The Fukushima accident in March 2011 calls for the reassessment of the nuclear regime in Japan, especially as regards to public safety. The serious accident that occurred in Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant caused by the 11 March earthquake (M. 8.9) has been a hard and costly lesson for Japan's obscure and corrupted nuclear energy regime, the so-called 'nuclear village', that grew during the long era of rapid economic growth that had little regard for public safety; crucially missing in this past policy to promote nuclear energy was the proper social contract between the State and society. In a highly-industrialised democracy, the accident's social and economic impact weighs heavily on the decision-makers, but Japan needs to re-think nuclear energy first from the perspective of rebuilding and then by honouring the public's trust in the State.

This volume highlights unique contributions of Asian middle powers to promoting of peace, development, human security, and democracy in Southeast Asia. Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan have pursued variations on the normative theme of "new Southern policies," while Thailand is a major subregional actor.