Japan’s vision of East Asian regionalism − toward soft balancing strategy

EKONOMIA XXI WIEKU ECONOMICS OF THE 21ST CENTURY 4(4) • 2014 ISSN 2353-8929 Sebastian Bobowski Wrocław University of Economics e-mail: JAPAN’S VISION OF EAST ASIAN REGIONALISM − TOWARD SOFT BALANCING STRATEGY Summary: East Asia is undoubtedly the region of unprecedented scale of dynamism of events, both in the economic and political terms. Growing economic power of China is nowadays a serious threat to the traditional regional diplomatic leadership of Japan, which has internal problems. Mutual distrust boosted by historical resentment contributed to the constitution of competing visions of East Asian regionalism, drawing, on the one hand, on the realm of values as the foundation of a common identity, and solidarity, on the other, on different concepts of membership of the Southeast, and South Asian countries, including the representatives of Oceania. Promoted through the path of soft diplomacy, Japanese vision of a broad community, involving, in addition to ASEAN, democratic countries of the South and Oceania, built on the foundation of universal values of the Western world, provided a natural counterbalance to the narrower, more conservative, strictly Asian concept of China. The involvement of the core of ASEAN, namely Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand, together with Canada, Mexico, Chile and Peru in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, is confronted with Chinese counter-proposal in the form of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, which indicates that the soft strategy game has gone up to a higher level. The coming years will resolve the dilemma which vision of economic regionalism is more attractive and vital. The expected breakthroughs include, in particular, the conclusion of a trilateral China–Japan–the Republic of Korea free trade agreement, the implementation of the ASEAN Economic Community, the intensification of discussions around the RCEP project, and finally – the evolution of ambivalent, so far, Chinese stance towards TPP project. In the case of the latter, it is critical to observe the dialogue between China and ASEAN at the sectoral level, initiated in 2011, implementation of the Foreign Investment Protection Agreement concluded with Canada in 2012, and finally − negotiations on the free trade agreement with Australia. Undoubtedly, narrow Asian formula of regionalism in East Asia has lost its importance in the face of both intraand extra-regional challenges. Keywords: Japan, East Asian regionalism, soft balancing strategy. DOI: 10.15611/e21.2014.4.05 Japan’s vision of East Asian regionalism − toward soft balancing strategy 81 1. Introduction Japan has been a regional leader in terms of economic policy and development for decades, but the acceleration of the globalization in the 90s transformed the Asian landscape. Rapidly growing China exposed the largest Asian economy to serious threats of gradual erosion of both regional and extra regional influence. However, Japan, strategically tied with the United States to sustain hard balance, has recently redefined its role to manifest massive support for the regional integration project, centered around ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations)1. Consequently, soft balancing strategy to counter Chinese regional expansion has been prioritized. Contemporary the approach of Japan towards regionalism may be perceived through the prism of openess and multilateralism. An important shift toward the redefinition of foreign policy has been observed after August 2009, when the Democratic Party of Japan replaced the Liberal Democratic Party as the leading political force. Since then, mainly due the determination of the former prime minister Hatoyama, Japanese diplomacy toward East Asia has gained new impetus, so as the notion of regional cooperation. The aim of the article is to study Japanese vision of East Asian regionalism, its evolution through decades, and perspectives regarding recent dynamics. 2. Looking backward Noteworthy, Japanese foreign policy has evolved through the decades, starting with the accession to the United Nations in 1956. It was regarded as a breakthrough for the postwar Japan, dealing with isolation and heavy reconstruction. Applying for UN membership was combined with three basic principles adopted to revitalize intraand extra- regional, political, security and economic relations: UN centered diplomacy, openness and cooperation with the free world and finally – enforcement of Asian identity of Japanese nation. Both the first and the second principle led to successful restoration of Japanese presence at the international stage, strong development of strategic ties with the westeren world, with the special regard to a security ally – the United States. However, the latter one remained aside to some extent due to domestic prerogatives. It should be noted that Japan sought war reparation agreements with East Asian nations since the 50s, and finally normalized diplomatic relations with Seoul and Beijing at the turn of the 60s and the 70s. Low-key diplomacy expressed through the series of multilateral engagements within Asian region, following a diplomatic vision of Miki of the Asia – Pacific a. d. 1967, was oriented on the consolidation of Asian states under Japan’s leadership. In 1976, Japan, as the only non-western country, became a member of the Group 1 ASEAN: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam. 82 Sebastian Bobowski of Seven (G7) dramatically strengthening its status as an Asian power, nation, and a partner for East Asian neighbours. However, Japan was traditionally reluctant to strong orientation on the narrow vision of Asian regionalism and values, manifesting preferences towards a wider Asia-Pacific concept of the region. Recognizing U.S. opportunism towards any kind of multilateral initiatives of Tokyo within Asian region that may potentially threaten vital interests of Washington, the bridging role of Japan between the East and the West tend to be questioned. Inoguchi defined Japan’s position as “unwittingly half-hearted and soft unless it was blessed by the U.S.” [Inoguchi 2002, p. 30]. The core of Japanese policy toward East Asia was composed of three basic principles, pointed out in Fukuda doctrine (1977) [Tanaka, Liff 2009, p. 2]: • peaceful cooperation with the Southeast Asian nations to build prosperity while rejecting status of military power, • mutual trust between regional governments, and • equal partnership in the name of the regional solidarity, with special emphasis put on the ASEAN nations, perceived as the leading organisation. The aforementioned assumptions became inherent components of primary idea of legitimating Japanese initiative in a region while losing economic superiority. As it was said by Sohn, Japan is opting for “[…] relationship with Asian partners not solely based on material bonds of interdependence, but on strong spritual bonds of frie (...truncated)