Japan’s ASEAN Policy: Reactive or Proactive in the Face of a Rising China in East Asia?

Since the announcement of the Hashimoto Doctrine in 1997, Japan’s proactive response to ever-changing Southeast Asia has been a main factor in advancing a new regionalism in East Asia. However, it is believed that China-ASEAN relations have outpaced Japan-ASEAN relations due to the uniformity of China-ASEAN’s regional policies and the inconsistency of Japan-ASEAN’s regional integration policies. Given these opposing views, this article examines the current state of Japan-ASEAN relations and especially focuses on the recent explicit efforts to strengthen a strategic partnership. Clarifying the changing nature of Japanese foreign policy toward ASEAN since the late 1990s, the article contends that Japanese initiatives are neither exceptional nor sporadic in nature. Indeed, between 1997 and 2007 Japan was an ideational facilitator to promote multilateral order in the region through strategic networking.