Japan unable to get ASEAN members on same page at special summit

December 15, 2013

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

A wide gap in priorities emerged in the special summit meeting between Japan and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), held in Tokyo on Dec. 14, with security concerns over China and economic assistance dividing the discussions.

Host Japan aimed to strengthen security ties with the organization’s 10 Southeast Asian member countries to counter China's newly declared air defense identification zone (ADIZ) in the East China Sea. However, most ASEAN members were more focused on seeking stronger economic ties with Japan.

At a news conference after the meeting, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stressed that Japan and ASEAN are united in their concerns toward China’s ADIZ.

“We confirmed the importance of the freedom of flights above the high seas,” Abe said.

In sharp contrast, however, the Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei, who was serving as co-chairman of the summit and was sitting next to Abe, talked mainly about economic cooperation and did not mention security issues.

In the past year since becoming prime minister last December, Abe has visited all of the 10 ASEAN member countries. The summit meeting seemed an indication he was putting the finishing touches on his diplomatic mission to shore up ties with these member nations.

On Dec. 14, Japan pledged official development assistance to ASEAN members of 2 trillion yen (about $20 billion) over five years. At the same time, Japan aimed for a joint statement along with ASEAN demanding that China show self-restraint in its establishment of the ADIZ. However, Japan was not able to get the full support of the member nations.

A day before the summit meeting, a high-ranking official of the Japanese government asked Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to stop submitting flight plans of his country’s commercial airlines to China when passing through the ADIZ. With a grimace, Lee questioned the official whether Japan would make the same request to the United States.

In preparing for the summit meeting, Japan dispatched Deputy Foreign Minister Shinsuke Sugiyama to Brunei and Cambodia for their support in incorporating stronger wording against China’s ADIZ in the joint statement.

Eventually, however, the final statement only referred to the importance of the principle of "freedom of overflights" and did not mention China's new ADIZ. That was apparently due to the fact that some ASEAN member countries have close ties to China.

“There is no other way except for adopting only the highest common factor as closeness of ties with China differs depending on the countries,” said an official of the Japanese Foreign Ministry.

Before the summit meeting, Japan also proposed holding an informal meeting of defense ministers to discuss cooperation in rescue operations at the time of disasters. However, the joint statement only said that ASEAN "noted" the proposal.

According to ASEAN diplomatic sources, Japan’s initial proposal described the informal meeting as that of defense ministers. Due to the demand from ASEAN, however, the description of “defense ministers” was changed to “ministers in charge of defense matters.” The softer militaristic tone was taken due to the concerns of countries with close ties to China.

In spite of that, China apparently was nervous about the special summit meeting, closely following its outcome.

In the evening on Dec. 14, a Chinese state-run TV broadcasting station reported on the meeting in detail.

“Japan is loudly publicizing (the importance of) the safety of the sea and the sky to Asian countries to counter China’s ADIZ and is forcing them to join the network that encircles China,” the report said.
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