Suchergebnisse

This article examines Japan's trade policy on significant geo-economic developments by focusing on its engagement in three large free trade agreements: the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, and the Japan–EU Economic Partnership Agreement. Under the Abe administration, Japan has produced successful outcomes in mega-FTA strategy, concluding the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Japan–EU Economic Partnership Agreement in 2018. The making and diffusion of high-standard rules were given high priority in Japan's mega-FTA strategy, and Prime Minister Abe's political leadership in employing his political allies and executive aides and managing the opposition activities of veto players has enabled his administration to produce these successful outcomes.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has shown a keen interest in his country's relationship with India with an intention to protect Japan's stake in maritime affairs under the 'Indo-Pacific' concept. In evaluating Japan's India strategy, a particularly important factor is China's regional presence. This article, through an analysis of Japan's India policy during 2013–18, seeks to address the following two questions. First, how has Japan's India diplomacy under Prime Minister Abe in politics, security, and economics been influenced by its strategies towards China? Second, how can Japan's diplomatic policies towards India be evaluated in terms of key concepts in relation to a state's foreign policy responses? The exploration of the development of Japan's India diplomacy, the geopolitical and geo-economic factors behind it, and the strategic nature of the diplomatic policies enables us to understand the prospect of increasingly important Japan–India relations and their strategic implications for rapidly evolving regional politics. (Rev Pac/GIGA)

While major arenas of Sino-Japanese struggle are maritime security affairs and political leadership in managing regional affairs, infrastructure development is emerging as a new source of rivalry. Given this new trend, this article highlights rivalry in the provision of regional institutions and programs to sustain infrastructure development and the winning of the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway project in Indonesia. It argues that in committing to infrastructure development, China and Japan were required to pay due attention to close connections with existing multilateral development banks and responses to the needs of a target government. Moreover, it contends that both states regarded commitments to infrastructure development as crucial vehicles to enhance political leverage and means to sustain the national economy and diffuse specific ideals for development. (J Contemp China/GIGA)

This article examines the strategies employed by China and Japan in advancing their national interests in the South China Sea dispute. It argues that both China and Japan have increasingly taken advantage of economic means and formal institutions to pursue political-security goals in relation to maritime disputes in the South China Sea. While China has employed economic means as 'carrot and stick' to influence the diplomatic stance of Southeast Asian states, Japan has utilized foreign economic aid for strategic objectives, even revising the basic principles of its development assistance policy. Moreover, China has strengthened institutional ties with ASEAN members by focusing on infrastructure development, whereas Japan has intensified the formation of multilateral institutions by expanding the scope from maritime safety to maritime security targeting China.

This article focuses on the export of infrastructure systems as Japan's foreign economic policy that is unique in terms of diplomatic goals and means. It seeks to address how and why the Japanese government has strengthened commitments to expanding infrastructure exports to major Asian countries. This article argues that the Japanese government took advantage of developmental means of state-led initiative and institutionalised government-business collaboration in sustaining the export of infrastructure systems. It also contends that the Japanese government pursued, in the infrastructure export initiative, twin goals of creating a new growth engine to revitalise the Japanese economy and strengthening strategic links with Asian countries to balance China's regional influence. (Pac Rev/GIGA)

This article explores which factors influenced the process of US–Japan negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership. It argues that while pressures from major societal groups and legislative members hampered progress of bilateral negotiations, state leaders' preferences for reacting strategically to geopolitical and geo-economic developments played a catalytic role in propelling the negotiations.

This study examines conditions under which states in East Asia engage in the development of regional institutions. It assumes that crucial external events and shocks, which produce specific historical breakpoints - critical junctures - constitute a significant breakpoint at which the regional states willingly elevated a path to develop regional institutions to a new level. The analysis of the development of regional institutions for a free trade area and food stock for emergency revealed that regional states in East Asia changed their views on the evolving reality created by external shocks and such changes led to the creation of new regional institutions. (Pac Rev/GIGA)