Japan's New Plan for a "Free and Open Indo-Pacific" and Its Challenges

Abstract

Japan’s vision for a “free and open Indo-Pacific” (FOIP) originated from Tokyo’s desire to promote a rules-based order, economic prosperity, and peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. In articulating and promoting Japan’s vision for the FOIP, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe played a significant role. In August 2007, Abe delivered a speech at the Indian Parliament in which he emphasized the importance of enhancing maritime security and cooperation between the Indian and Pacific Oceans through strategic cooperation among like-minded countries.1 This speech, titled “Confluence of the Two Seas,” is often seen as a precursor to Japan’s vision for the Indo-Pacific, highlighting the commitment to promoting regional stability, economic prosperity, and universal values such as freedom, democracy, and human rights in the broader two-ocean region. Another significant milestone in the development of Japan’s FOIP vision was a speech Abe gave in Kenya in August 2016. During the Sixth Tokyo International Conference on African Development, Abe stressed that Japan “bore the responsibility of fostering the confluence of the Pacific and Indian Oceans and of Asia and Africa into a place that values freedom, the rule of law, and the market economy, free from force or coercion, and making it prosperous.”2 These speeches by Abe laid the groundwork for Japan’s FOIP vision by articulating the key principles and objectives that would guide Japan’s approach to the Indo-Pacific. Japan presented three pillars to realize a free and open Indo-Pacific: