Shinzo Abe's plan for 'New Japanese' to lead Asia raises old fears
Eric Li says with America in retreat and China on the rise, Asia needs a new security order. But Shinzo Abe's proposal for the 'New Japanese' to lead offers only false promises and should be rejected
US President Barack Obama recently sought to define a new foreign policy doctrine for America. In his much anticipated speech to graduates at the West Point military academy, he set a bar for US military intervention abroad that is the highest in recent memory - when America's interests are directly threatened. Perhaps the lessons of Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya are beginning to sink in and be reflected in American foreign policy. Perhaps the demands of the American people for a "pivot" to Ohio, rather than the far-flung oceans of Asia, are finally being heard.
Many worry that a self-reflective and downsizing America is leaving a void in the world's balance of power. But, wait, here is Shinzo Abe coming to the rescue.
Over the weekend, Singapore rolled out the red carpet for the Japanese prime minister at this year's Shangri-La Dialogue. In his keynote address, as Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong looked on, Abe proposed a ground-breaking new concept: the New Japanese. This breed of international and peace-loving contemporary Japanese are to confidently step forward and safeguard the world order, at least in Asia.
There was only one theme to Abe's speech: China is the enemy (without naming it, of course); Japan is the new steward of peace and stability in Asia based on rule of law; and Japan will support whichever countries decide to oppose China. Here he did name names - Vietnam and the Philippines. Japan will back them politically, economically and, yes, militarily.
Abe rightly pointed out that Asia has been synonymous with growth. In the past few decades, perhaps no region has benefited more from the current global order.
This amazing achievement has been built on two pillars. First, the global economic and security architecture designed, built and sustained by the US has served as the guarantor of regional peace, upon which economic development has depended. And a post-second-world-war, legally pacifist Japan is a key component of that architecture. Second, China, the largest nation in Asia, has been the single most important engine of growth through good and bad times.