Japan’s Security Policy Expansion in Southeast Asia During the Shinzo Abe Administration: Case of Japan–Indonesia Security Cooperation
| Published date | 01 August 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/23477970231173538 |
| Author | Rafyoga Jehan Pratama Irsadanar |
| Date | 01 August 2023 |
Research Article
Japan’s Security Policy
Expansion in Southeast
Asia During the Shinzo
Abe Administration:
Case of Japan–Indonesia
Security Cooperation
Rafyoga Jehan Pratama Irsadanar1
Abstract
This research explains how the changing geostrategic realm impacts the security
policy of a state. From this context, this article aims to investigate Japan’s geostra-
tegic interest in expanding its security and defence policy to Southeast Asia under
the 2012–2020 Abe administration, with Indonesia as the case study. This research
employed a disciplined configurative case study method with geostrategic theory
as the analysis framework. This research found that Japan’s expanding security
and defence cooperation with Indonesia is caused by the increasing geostrategic
vulnerability in the Indo-Pacific area, mainly concerning China’s geostrategy under
Xi Jinping called China Dream. Japan seeks to prevent China’s growing geostrategic
influence in mainland Asia, which is on the northern side, from going southward to
the Indo-Pacific area. To that end, expanded security and defence cooperation with
Indonesia is important to maintain the stability of Southeast Asia as a connector of
the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean.
Keywords
Shinzo Abe, Japan, Indonesia, geostrategy, security policy
Introduction
This research explains how the changing geostrategic realm impacts the secu-
rity policy of a state. It analyses the causal mechanism between the changing
geostrategic understanding of a region and the state’s security policy. It seeks
Journal of Asian Security
and International Affairs
10(2) 190–222, 2023
© The Author(s) 2023
Article reuse guidelines:
in.sagepub.com/journals-permissions-india
DOI: 10.1177/23477970231173538
journals.sagepub.com/home/aia
1 Graduate School of International Cooperation Studies, Kobe University, Nada-ku, Kobe, Japan
Corresponding author:
Rafyoga Jehan Pratama Irsadanar, Graduate School of International Cooperation Studies, Kobe Uni-
versity, 2-1 Rokkodai-cho, Nada-ku, Kobe 657-8501, Japan.
E-mail: irsadanar.rafyoga@gmail.com
Irsadanar 191
to understand how a geographical area’s increasing geostrategic vulnerability
and centrality drives a country to employ intensified security engagement in
the respective geographical domain. From this context, this research focuses on
Japan’s Southeast Asia security policy shift under Abe Shinzo1 from a geostrate-
gic perspective. This research employed a qualitative method with a case study
approach, taking Japan–Indonesia security and defence cooperation as the case
study.
This research is important as it provides a new approach to understanding
Japan’s engagement in Southeast Asia. By default, the development of Japan’s
security policy, which has become more militarised, has led to renewed interest in
understanding the causes behind the policy changes. The case of Japan’s defence
and security cooperation with Indonesia is significant for this context since, by
analysing this case, this article can discover the geostrategic element of Japan’s
foreign policy dynamics in Southeast Asia. The existing research mainly sees
Japan’s security arrangements in Southeast Asia against the rise of China, focus-
ing on measuring the changing power balance (Honna, 2018; Lam, 2018; Shoji,
2015; Storey, 2013; Terada, 2014) and peace contribution factor (Inoguchi, 2014;
Katagiri, 2019; Wallace, 2019). The discovery of a geostrategic perspective in the
research context is crucial because it can complement the dominant understanding
of Japan’s security role in the region.
Japan’s expanding security and defence policy under the second Abe adminis-
tration, especially towards Southeast Asia, raises many interesting questions. In
the 1970s, Japan struggled to reintegrate itself into Southeast Asia after World
War II. Some Southeast Asian societies saw Japan’s increasing economic pres-
ence as a new kind of imperialism. The Fukuda Doctrine in 1977 helped improve
Japan’s image as a trustworthy equal partner to Southeast Asia with the promise
not to become a military power. Despite the historical issues and good relations
underpinning the Fukuda Doctrine, the security and defence cooperation between
Japan and Southeast Asia has kept rising since 2012.
Based on the background presented, this article aims to answer why Japan,
under the Abe administration, expanded its security policy to Southeast Asia, par-
ticularly Indonesia, and why Indonesia welcomed it. The central argument of this
research is that Japan increased the military element in its Southeast Asia foreign
policy because of the increasing geostrategic vulnerability in the Indo-Pacific and
the region’s escalating importance to Japan’s geostrategy. That being said, Japan
wants to minimise its geostrategic vulnerability and to maximise the outcome of
Southeast Asia’s geostrategic setting by aligning with countries that have similar
geostrategic aims.
In trying to establish this argument, this article answers several questions.
First, from an independent variable perspective, it analyses how the centrality of
Southeast Asia and Indonesia increased under the Abe administration. It first
seeks to understand how the Japanese Government’s understanding of Southeast
Asia changed under the Abe government, especially in the context of the Free and
Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) vision. Second, it analyses how Southeast Asia’s
increasing vulnerability and crucialness under the FOIP vision leads to an increas-
ing military element of Japan’s foreign policy in the area.
192Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs 10(2)
Among other Southeast Asian nations, Indonesia is chosen as the case study
because it has the most similar geostrategic context to Japan. In other words, this
is an extreme or a special case. The two countries share similar geographical fea-
tures and synchronised ambition to maximise their geographical potential through
foreign policies. Geographically, Japan and Indonesia are maritime countries, and
strategically, both have harmonised foreign policy visions in the Indo-Pacific.
Japan is a proponent of FOIP and Indonesia is the leading initiator of the ASEAN
Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP). By taking Japan and Indonesia’s advancing
security and defence cooperation both at a strategic and practical level for the case
study, this article sought to understand the geostrategic element of Japan’s secu-
rity initiative to Southeast Asia.
This article explains that Japan has expanded its security and defence cooper-
ation with Indonesia due to geostrategic factors. Even though this special or
extreme case could not necessarily predict or be generalised to Japan’s coopera-
tion with other Southeast Asian nations, it demonstrates how the geostrategic
landscape changes and impacts Japan’s security policies. Using a configurative
disciplined case study approach, this article shows why and in what ways Japan–
Indonesia security and defence cooperation has advanced, focusing on the roles of
Japan’s FOIP strategy and China’s regional expansion.
This article is divided into five major parts. The first part of the article is the
introduction and the literature review addressing the research gap. Subsequently,
the second part of the article elaborates on the research method employed and the
theoretical framework utilised to conduct the research. The third part depicts the
historical background of Japan’s security policy expansion in Southeast Asia from
the 1970s to the Abe Shinzo era. The fourth part provides an analysis explaining
Japan’s security policy expansion in Southeast Asia under Abe using Japan–
Indonesia security cooperation as the case study. The final part concludes the
article and draws the implications of the article’s findings.
Literature Review
This research focuses on how the increasing geostrategic centrality and vulnera-
bility in Southeast Asia led Japan to expand its security policy in the region, in this
case, Indonesia. It hypothesises that Japan expanded its security policy to Southeast
Asia to adapt to the geostrategic challenges in advancing the Free and Open-Indo
Pacific (FOIP) vision. To that end, Japan needs to expand its security and defence
cooperation with like-minded countries, such as Indonesia, in stabilising Southeast
Asia as the connector of the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. Thus, more mili-
tary involvement and expanded overseas security initiatives were employed.
While China has been widely discussed in Japan’s foreign policy, this article
does not delve into the dynamics of Japan–China relations as the primary analy-
sis. Instead, it focuses on how Japan’s advancing geostrategic perspective, which
is related to China, impacts its security and defence policy in Southeast Asia, with
Indonesia as a case study. More specifically, this research limits its focus to
Abe Shinzo’s second administration between 2012 and 2020.
Get this document and AI-powered insights with a free trial of vLex and Vincent AI
Get Started for FreeUnlock full access with a free 7-day trial
Transform your legal research with vLex
-
Complete access to the largest collection of common law case law on one platform
-
Generate AI case summaries that instantly highlight key legal issues
-
Advanced search capabilities with precise filtering and sorting options
-
Comprehensive legal content with documents across 100+ jurisdictions
-
Trusted by 2 million professionals including top global firms
-
Access AI-Powered Research with Vincent AI: Natural language queries with verified citations
Unlock full access with a free 7-day trial
Transform your legal research with vLex
-
Complete access to the largest collection of common law case law on one platform
-
Generate AI case summaries that instantly highlight key legal issues
-
Advanced search capabilities with precise filtering and sorting options
-
Comprehensive legal content with documents across 100+ jurisdictions
-
Trusted by 2 million professionals including top global firms
-
Access AI-Powered Research with Vincent AI: Natural language queries with verified citations
Unlock full access with a free 7-day trial
Transform your legal research with vLex
-
Complete access to the largest collection of common law case law on one platform
-
Generate AI case summaries that instantly highlight key legal issues
-
Advanced search capabilities with precise filtering and sorting options
-
Comprehensive legal content with documents across 100+ jurisdictions
-
Trusted by 2 million professionals including top global firms
-
Access AI-Powered Research with Vincent AI: Natural language queries with verified citations
Unlock full access with a free 7-day trial
Transform your legal research with vLex
-
Complete access to the largest collection of common law case law on one platform
-
Generate AI case summaries that instantly highlight key legal issues
-
Advanced search capabilities with precise filtering and sorting options
-
Comprehensive legal content with documents across 100+ jurisdictions
-
Trusted by 2 million professionals including top global firms
-
Access AI-Powered Research with Vincent AI: Natural language queries with verified citations
Unlock full access with a free 7-day trial
Transform your legal research with vLex
-
Complete access to the largest collection of common law case law on one platform
-
Generate AI case summaries that instantly highlight key legal issues
-
Advanced search capabilities with precise filtering and sorting options
-
Comprehensive legal content with documents across 100+ jurisdictions
-
Trusted by 2 million professionals including top global firms
-
Access AI-Powered Research with Vincent AI: Natural language queries with verified citations