Absent China to dominate the agenda at three-day Japan-Asean summit
Japan-Asean meeting likely to focus on rising military tension, with Tokyo cosying up to bloc in bid to be a counterbalance to Beijing
When leaders from Japan and Southeast Asia gather in Tokyo today, the elephant in the room will be a nation that is not invited: China.
Its rise as a military power has long sparked concern in Asia, and tensions spiked last month when China announced a new air defence zone straddling islands also claimed by Japan in the East China Sea.
It’s going to be about the anxieties China has stirred about its ambitions
China, despite being a major trade partner and investor in Southeast Asia, is also locked in territorial rows with several other Asian nations over wide stretches of the South China Sea and has said it might set up a similar air defence zone there.
Japan, which has in recent years stepped up private sector investment in Association of Southeast Asian Nations member countries as an alternative to an unpredictable and risky China, now wants to draw closer to the grouping on the security front as a counterbalance to Beijing.
"It is very important to show our big neighbour in Asia the mainstream is free markets, democracy, human rights," said a Japanese government official familiar with diplomatic strategy.
"This is the future. This is the message to be sent from the summit."
The meeting with the 10-member Asean will include expanded currency-swap deals and fresh aid offers, such as a post-typhoon loan to the Philippines of US$97 million.