Security key factor in Japan-ASEAN relations

Security key factor in Japan-ASEAN relations

Bantarto Bandoro, Editor, 'The Indonesian Quarterly',
Centre For Strategic and International Studies (CSIS),
Jakarta, bandoro@csis.or.id

The diplomatic fallout from the Bali ASEAN summit is still
being felt in the region, as Japan prepares to host a summit with
the 10 members of ASEAN early next month. It is reported that
during such a meeting Japan will express its intention to be
officially part of ASEAN's Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC).

If Japan were to ink the 27-year-old TAC, a nonaggression pact in
which the members pledge respect for each other's independence,
sovereignty and territorial integrity, its decision would come
only a month after China and India signed the treaty.

The signing of the treaty by Japan would not only mean that it
would become further involved in the political affairs of ASEAN,
but it would also beef up Japan's regional security role. Japan,
for its part, was apparently concerned that given China's rising
presence, its political and economic influence in Southeast Asia
would decline if the government in Tokyo failed to show its
commitment to the region. The emergence of more acute
international problems such as terrorism and its security and
economic impacts, and the need to tackle it through collaborative
efforts, might also have been reasons for Japan to sign the TAC.

Japan now realizes that in an era of a high degree of
interconnectedness, there needs to be new light shed on Japan-
ASEAN relations, and Japan's commitment in particular. Japan-
ASEAN relations are no longer viewed from a donor-recipient
perspective.

In the eyes of Japanese leaders, the strengthening of security
bonds between Japan and ASEAN is a top diplomatic priority and
there is an equally strong expectation in ASEAN that Japan can
play an active security role in the region, particularly when
both sides are facing tremendous new geopolitical challenges .

The accession by Japan to the ASEAN TAC will certainly signify
the importance of strengthening the political, economic and
security relationship as a common objective of Japan and ASEAN.
This is not only good for ASEAN, but also for long-term stability
and security in the region. One should not, therefore, see
Japan's accession as merely a token of friendship.

Japan-ASEAN relations have experienced fewer problems compared
with Japan-U.S. relations. It was only in 1974 that the
relationship between Japan and ASEAN reached a critical point.
Massive street demonstrations in the capital cities of some ASEAN
members countries protested the policy of Japan in the region.

Given the importance of relations between the two sides for
the security of the region in the long term, Japan, in 1997,
initiated the "Fukuda doctrine," named after former Prime
Minister Takeo Fukuda, Koizumi's political mentor, which puts
Japan and ASEAN on an equal partnership. Now that 25 years have
passed since Fukuda announced his policy and a significant number
of ASEAN nations have made democratic progress, Japan feels the
need to develop new approaches in the Japan-ASEAN relationship.
The plan by Japan to accede to TAC must be viewed from such a
perspective. By signing TAC, Japan wants to reaffirm its
"security partnership" with ASEAN.

The relationship between Japan and ASEAN has been largely an
economic affair. But given current changes in the strategic
environment of the region, cooperation in the field of security
is too important to be ignored by Japan and ASEAN. Now is the
time for both sides to look beyond traditional areas of trade,
investment and aid. Issues such as piracy, energy security and
terrorism must be tackled jointly if Japan and ASEAN are to be
seen as effective and productive partners in the field of
security. It is to be hoped that the accession of Japan to TAC
will intensify Japan-ASEAN security cooperation.

Japan's decision to accede to TAC might be seen as a follow-up
to Koizumi's trip to Southeast Asia last year, when he
articulated the concept of regional community. No Japanese leader
before him had made such a proposal. Security cooperation is one
of the five key areas of cooperation envisioned by such a
concept.

Japan might have its own interpretation of TAC, such that it
considered it important to solve regional security issues
together with ASEAN and within the framework of community. It is
not an exaggeration to say that ASEAN's own concept of community,
introduced during the Bali summit, has drawn sympathy from the
Japanese in a way that Japan also feels the need to advance
stability and security in the region through TAC.

It was inevitable that Japan-ASEAN ties would evolve to cover
political and security concerns, as both have been called upon to
play a larger, more constructive regional security role. Japan
might have anticipated that future regional security issues would
stem from inside as well as outside the immediate region. Japan
could not sit idly by as new security issues impacted on Japan's
security. It is therefore a priority for Japan to construct a new
style of cooperation between Japan and ASEAN for the sake of
long-term regional stability.

Japan's decision to sign TAC clearly reflects a change in the
way of thinking of the country on how new security challenges
have to be managed. It is a political reality that ASEAN is just
on Japan's doorstep, meaning that whatever security turbulence
occurs in ASEAN would unintentionally, but directly affect
Japan's security. There is simply no way for Japan to prevent
spillover effects, but rather, it must strengthen security ties
with ASEAN by making the best use of its accession to TAC.