South China Sea feud puts Japan’s U.S. alliance, Asian partnerships under spotlight

From The Japan Times (Nov 24): South China Sea feud puts Japan’s U.S. alliance, Asian partnerships under spotlight



Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President Barack Obama deliver remarks to reporters before their bilateral meeting during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Manila on Thursday. | REUTERS

Jetting from Turkey to Southeast Asia in mid-November at a time when the U.S.-China rivalry is playing out in the hotly contested South China Sea, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has painstakingly painted a picture of an ever stronger Japan-U.S. alliance and a tight network with Asian friends.

During a series of regional summits in Kuala Lumpur, Abe defied Beijing’s objections to raising the South China Sea issue multilaterally and expressed his “serious concerns” over China’s massive land reclamation activities and building of outposts, and pointed to unilateral attempts to change the status quo at sea.

According to Japanese officials, Beijing’s muscle-flexing in the South China Sea, which is one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes and believed to be resource-rich, has highlighted the need for Japan and the United States to be more engaged in the Asian region, especially in light of Japan’s new security laws, furthering their partnership in upholding freedom of navigation and the rule of law.

“I want to create a network (with like-minded countries), with the Japan-U.S. alliance as the cornerstone, to ensure peace and stability” in the region, Abe was quoted by Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroshige Seko as saying in his talks with President Barack Obama in Manila.

Pushing his policy of “rebalancing” toward Asia, Obama said he welcomes a forward-leaning Japan, which includes further promoting ties with India and Australia, and said his meeting with Abe was a way to “examine how we can work with some of the regional organizations like ASEAN in order to maintain the stability that has been the hallmark of this region.”

In past years, Japan has been proactively promoting a foreign policy that maintains the alliance with the United States while at the same time attaching increased importance to its engagement in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and with India and Australia, one of the officials said.

In Manila, Abe met with Philippine President Benigno Aquino III and they broadly agreed on a deal for the transfer of defense equipment and technology, and to assist the Philippines, which is embroiled in overlapping territorial claims over the South China Sea with China, Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam and Taiwan.

“Through cooperation on defense equipment and boosting maritime capability, we will equip ASEAN countries with skills to protect the sea,” Abe told ASEAN leaders in Kuala Lumpur.

Washington, for its part, has unveiled a plan to transfer two ships to the Philippine Navy, with Obama assuring his nation’s commitment to defending the Southeast Asian country.

China saw last month’s passage of a U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer within the 12-nautical-mile (22-km) territorial limit claimed by China at one of its artificial islands in the disputed Spratly archipelago as a provocation. It has frowned on involvement by Japan and the United States in a part of the world where they are not directly affected.

But Alexander Vuving, an associate professor at the College of Security Studies of the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, based in Honolulu, said, “China’s efforts to transform geography and rewrite the rules in the South China Sea cannot be kept in check without the involvement of powerful stakeholders such as the United States and Japan.”

While there are concerns that U.S. exercising its “freedom of navigation” has ratcheted up tensions in the South China Sea, fast becoming one of the world’s flash points, Vu-ving defended the U.S. operations as “necessary to maintain international law and balance of power” and “deter bullying behavior.”

“If the United States does not conduct freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea, China may think, based on what has happened so far in this region, that it can do whatever it wants, even in disrespect of international law,” Vuving said.

China insists its island building activities are civilian in nature, but smaller Asian claimants are uneasy over Beijing’s fast-paced land reclamation work and what is perceived as a “fait accompli” in the South China Sea.

“What is troublesome is that several years down the road, the territorial claims would be blurred because China has changed the status quo and no one was able to stop it,” a diplomatic source said.

India, which is becoming concerned about China’s presence in the Indian Ocean, also raised the issue in its summit with ASEAN representatives as well as in bilateral talks with Japan, in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed Japanese participation in U.S.-India naval exercises.

Australia, another key partner for Japan and the United States, has also joined in expressing concerns over the South China Sea issue. On the same weekend, foreign and defense chiefs of Japan and Australia who met in Sydney for their “two-plus-two” security talks urged all claimants to “exercise restraint.”

The United States says it will continue the freedom of navigation operations.

Standing by Japan’s ally, Abe said at the news conference wrapping up his latest diplomatic tour that he “supports” the U.S. patrols.

Greater Japan-U.S. cooperation following the revision of bilateral defense guidelines in April and the enactment in September of the new security laws that expand the potential overseas role of the Self-Defense Forces does not automatically mean Japan will join the patrols.

“SDF activities are separate and our country will not join (the U.S. operations),” Abe said, adding that the SDF is not patrolling the South China Sea now and there are “no specific plans” at the moment to be engaged in such activities there.

While Japan is not directly involved, it regards the area as vital to its economy: It is a key shipping route for oil and other imports. Every year, $5 trillion worth of global trade passes through these waters.

Nozomu Yoshitomi, a Nihon University professor and retired Ground Self-Defense Force officer, said he believes the SDF has the capability to conduct joint patrols in the South China Sea, but whether Japan wants to use its limited assets in this fashion is another question.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/11/24/national/politics-diplomacy/south-china-sea-feud-puts-japans-u-s-alliance-asian-partnerships-spotlight/#.VlYdO7SFP3h