At a time when China and the Philippines are tense over the South China Sea issue, Japan on the side is also ready to take advantage of the chaos to intervene in ASEAN, while Malaysia and Vietnam, which also have territorial disputes with China, have become Japan's primary targets. Now, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Japan-ASEAN friendship and cooperation, Japan has formed a bureau and gathered with ASEAN leaders to throw out a cake of its own interests, but in the end it has not received a single word of promise.
During the meeting, Japan basically grasped the overall situation, while the Philippines cooperated with the tension in the South China Sea, bluntly saying that China's assertive behavior would pose a great "threat" to its neighbors, with the aim of provoking confrontation between China and ASEAN countries. After the atmosphere was in place, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida began to break through one by one, focusing on Malaysia.
During a separate meeting, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida showed his sincerity by pledging to provide Malaysia with rescue ships to help it respond to emergencies at sea, with a total value of 400 million yen ($2.8 million). In addition, Japan has also drawn a "big pie", saying that it is very likely that it will continue to provide unmanned reconnaissance aircraft to Malaysia in the future.
(Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (second from right) and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim (third from left) in Tokyo)
The agreement is part of a new program developed by Japan to strengthen ties with Southeast Asian countries, called Official Security Assistance (OSA), which aims to provide both military and non-military support. Malaysia is the third country to join the programme, along with the Philippines and Bangladesh, which shows the importance attached to Malaysia.
During the talks, although Fumio Kishida did not name China, he hoped that Malaysia would work with Japan to maintain a free and open international order after receiving assistance. Prior to this, Fumio Kishida had targeted China more than once, saying that China's violation of the rules-based international order had caused a sharp rise in challenges in the Asia-Pacific region, so it is self-evident who Japan's move is targeting.
In addition, Japan has entered into a series of investment cooperation agreements with Malaysia and other ASEAN countries, and signed the ASEAN-Japan Joint Vision Statement on Friendship and Cooperation and the Vision Implementation Plan, which aims to vigorously support the innovation of small and medium-sized enterprises in ASEAN, and strengthen supply chain resilience and digital connectivity with ASEAN to achieve regional prosperity and sustainable development.
In an interview with Japanese media, Anwar said that the visit to Japan was very successful, securing more than 198 billion yen (about 9.9 billion yuan) of potential investment, and the cooperation areas involved clean energy, digital, chemistry and other fields. But when a Japanese journalist asked about Malaysia's attitude towards China, an embarrassing scene occurred.
(Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (right) shakes hands with Indonesian President Joko Widodo)
In response to a reporter's question, Anwar first stressed that Malaysia's "Look East" policy includes not only Japan and South Korea, but also China is an indispensable part. Anwar believes that the world has changed too much in terms of digital technology and security, so China must be taken into account, not limited to Japan and South Korea as before.
Then, Anwar affirmed China's economic status, believing that cooperation with China will benefit a lot, so he must resolutely maintain friendly relations with China and will not "choose sides" between China and the United States. At the same time, Anwar also took the opportunity to express his attitude towards the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, criticizing the hypocrisy of certain "self-proclaimed countries that promote democracy and human rights" in dealing with the Gaza issue, and once again clarified his position.
As for the South China Sea issue, although Anwar did not say it explicitly, it is also self-evident, after all, to have good relations with China means that Malaysia will not choose to exacerbate the contradictions in the South China Sea. In other words, Japan was giving aid and talking about cooperation, but in the end, it did not even get a word of Anwar's promise, and Anwar poured cold water on it in public.
(ASEAN-Japan Special Summit)
It is worth mentioning that before meeting Anwar, Kishida also promised Indonesian President Joko Widodo that Japan would provide a large patrol ship for the coast guards of Southeast Asian countries and support the development of its planned new capital city of Nusantara in eastern Borneo. However, at the press conference after the meeting, although Kishida tried his best to exaggerate the risks and challenges, Jokowi focused on the friendly relations between ASEAN and Japan, which is enough to see that the two are not the same mind at all.
In fact, ASEAN has always been reluctant to take sides in the great power competition, but has adhered to an independent and balanced foreign policy. This is because ASEAN's position and influence are not easy to come by, and all parties cherish them very much. And one of the secrets to maintaining this momentum is to avoid falling into opposing camps. For a long time after World War II, Japan's role in ASEAN was also constructive, but with the distortion of Japan's strategy toward China, it also began to gradually pour "political sewage" into ASEAN, and cooperation began to shift from economic to defense and security.
As a result, ASEAN's openness and cooperation have been dealt a serious blow. The United States and Japan have been looking for weaknesses in ASEAN and trying to sow discord within ASEAN. For example, the dispute between the Philippines and China over Ren'ai Jiao in the South China Sea was actually provoked by the United States and Japan. Japan's behavior, no matter what it says or how it glorifies, is actually undermining the overall situation of ASEAN's cooperation and development. I believe that people of insight in ASEAN will be able to see this fact clearly, remain vigilant, and take the fate of their own country into their own hands.