A NEW PILLAR OF JAPANESE FOREIGN POLICY: HE ARC OF FREEDOM AND PROSPERITY— JAPANESE POLICY OWARD THE GUAM ORGANIZATION
Abstract
On 30 November 2006, Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Taro Aso1 delivered a policy speech entitled “The Arc of Freedom and Prosperity: Japan’s Expanding Diplomatic Horizons.”2 The foreign minister later made another speech with this title and clarified the details of his conception on 12 March 2007.
In his speech, Taro Aso introduced a new vision of Japanese foreign policy and added a new pillar to it. Until recently, Japanese foreign policy was based on three existing pillars: reinforcement of the Japan-U.S. alliance, international cooperation, most notably under the auspices of the United Nations, and relations with neighboring countries, namely China, Russia and the Republic of Korea.
The new pillar of Japanese diplomacy places the emphasis on universal values such as freedom, democracy, the rule of law, fundamental human rights, and the market economy. In his speech, Minister Aso stated that Japan would engage itself to create an Arc of Freedom and Prosperity along the outer rim of the Eurasian continent starting from Northern Europe and the Baltic states, crossing Central and South Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia, the Middle East, the Indian continent, and Southeast Asia, and finally reaching Northeast Asia. According to the Minister’s speeches, Japan has been traveling the road to peace and happiness through economic prosperity and democracy and will cooperate with the states of the above-mentioned territories to create a prosperous and stable region. Thus, a region of stability and plenty—the Arc of Freedom and Prosperity—with its basic universal values will begin to take shape. As Minister Aso publicly stated in his speech, Japan will serve as an “escort runner”3 to support the countries of the region that have just entered into this process.
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This article is based on the author’s personal view and does not reflect any official policy.
Taro Aso was Japanese foreign minister from October 2005 to September 2007.
The full text of Taro Aso’s speech is available at [http://www.mofa.gov.jp/announce/fm/aso/speech0611.html]
Quoted from: T. Aso, “Arc of Freedom and Prosperity.”
See: “Diplomatic Bluebook 2007,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, p. 3, available at [http://www.mofa.go.
p/policy/other/bluebook/2007/index.html].
See: Central Asia as a Corridor for Peace and Stability, Speech by Mr. Taro Aso, Minister for Foreign Affairs at the Japan National Press Club, 1 June, 2006, available at [http://www.mofa.go.jp/region/europe/speech0606.html].
See: “Diplomatic Bluebook 2007,” p. 3.
See: “Diplomatic Bluebook 2007,” p. 3.
See: Sh. Mutsushika, New Trends in the Black Sea Area and Big Power Interests, Speech presented at the Second Japan-Black Sea Area Conference, Tokyo, 20-21 November, 2007 (see also: Sh. Mutsushika, “The Black Sea Coopera-tion—Japanese Foreign Policy toward the Black Sea Area and the ‘Arc of Freedom and Prosperity’ Diplomacy,” The Ja-pan Institute of International Affairs, March, 2007), available at [http://www2.jiia.or.jp/pdf/global_issues/h18_BSEC/
_BSEC.pdf] (in Japanese).
See: M.E. Weinstein, “Japan’s Foreign Policy Options: Implications for the United States,” in: Japan’s Foreign Policy. After the Cold War: Coping with Change, ed. by G.L. Curtis, M.E. Sharpe, New York, 1993, pp. 218-219.
The SDF have been deployed in the Indian Ocean to conduct refueling services for allied warships based on the antiterrorism special measures law, which was enacted to support the military operations of U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
he Japanese government is seeking permanent legislation that would allow Japan to dispatch its Self-Defense Forces overseas (see: The Asahi Shimbun, 21 June, 2006).
It should be indicated that in his speech “Arc of Freedom and Prosperity,” as well as in his other speeches and interviews, Foreign Minister Aso also mentioned the importance of activating relations with the African and Latin Ameri-can continents. There was criticism that compared with other industrialized and developed countries, Japan has fewer embassies in the countries of both continents and its budget was not enough for foreign policy activity in African and Latin American countries (see, for example: Speech by Deputy Foreign Minister Yasuhisa Shiozaki at a conference organized the Institute of Central Asia and Caucasus studies on 31 July, 2006, available at [http://cari.727.net/]).
Questions about whether to revise the Constitution in order participate more actively on the international arena,for instance, in peacekeeping operations, have been asked since 1997. The 2006 survey showed a gradual increase since then in the percentage of respondents who support constitutional revision. In 2004, the percentage of the supports of those saying revision was needed exceeded 50 percent for the first time (see: The Asahi Shimbun, 4 May, 2006).
Ryutaro Hashimoto was prime minister of Japan from January 1996 to July 1998.
Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto introduced his Eurasian Diplomacy concept in his speech at the Keizai Doyu-kai, the Japan Association of Cooperate Executives. The full text of Hashimoto’s speech is available at [http://www.
antei.go.jp/foreign/0731douyukai.html]. Details of the Eurasian Diplomacy and its interpretation are also available in “Diplomatic Bluebook 1998.”
It is necessary to note that in his speech, Hashimoto also explained his new policy toward Russia (see: “Diplo-matic Bluebook 1998,” p. 210).
The concept of the Silk Road as a region with historical and cultural elements has been popular in Japan. There was an extremely popular television documentary series tiled The Silk Road in Japan in the late 1980s. The 1990s saw a boom in everything related to the Silk Road states. While cooperating with the Silk Road’s countries politically and eco-nomically, the Japanese government placed particular importance on cultural diplomacy and Japan allotted large cultural grants (see: R. Drifte, “Japan’s Eurasian Diplomacy: Power Politics, Resource Diplomacy or Romanticism?” in: The Cas-pian: Politics, Energy and Security, ed. by Sh. Akiner, Routledge Curzon, London, 2004, pp. 281-282). For the Silk Road Diplomacy, among others, see: M.R. Hickok, “The End of the Silk Road: Japan’s Eurasian Initiative,” Central Asian Sur-vey, Vol. 19, No. 1, 2000, pp. 17-39; Yu. Takeshi, Japan’s Multilateral Approach toward Central Asia, a paper presented at an International Symposium of Slavic Research Center, Hokkaido University, Japan, on 6-7 July, 2006, available at [http://src-h.slav.hokudai.ac.jp/coe21/publish/no16_1_ses/04_yuasa.pdf].
See: M.J. Green, Japan’s Reluctant Realism: Foreign Policy Challenges in an Era of Uncertain Power, Pal-grave, New York, 2003, pp. 162-163.
See: R. Drifte, op. cit., p. 286.
For Japan’s energy policy, see, for example: Rethinking Energy Security in East Asia, ed. by P.B. Stares, Japan Center for International Exchange, Tokyo, New York, 2000, pp. 59-78; Energy and Security: Toward a New Foreign Pol-icy Strategy, ed. by J.H. Kalicki, D.L. Godlwin, Woodrow Wilson Center Press, Washington, D.C., 2005, pp. 305-328.
See: R. Drifte, op. cit., pp. 289-291.
See: Sh. Mutsushika, New Trends in the Black Sea Area and Big Power Interests.
Within the GUAM countries, Japan has embassies in Ukraine and Azerbaijan and has made a decision to open its embassy in Georgia in the 2008 fiscal year.
See: “Diplomatic Bluebook 2007,” p. 3.
See: Joint Press Statement GUAM-Japan Meeting, Baku, 18 June, 2007, available at [http://www.mofa.go.jp/re-gion/europe/guam0706.html].
See: “Deputy Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan A. Azimov Pays Courtesy Call on Foreign Minister Taro Aso,” 29 June, 2007, available at [http://www.mofa.go.jp/announce/announce/2007/6/1174277_828.html].
See: Joint Press Release of 2nd «Japan-GUAM» Meeting, 10 April, 2008, available at [http://www.mfa.gov.az/
ng/international/organizations/guam/GUAM-Japan.shtml].
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