The changing face of Japan-ASEAN aid
Japan’s foreign aid toolkit has been expanding since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office in December 2012, as he seeks to shore up Japan’s influence in South-east Asia in the face of muscle-flexing by China. Japan announced on August 12 that it would give two new large vessels to the Philippine Coast Guard. In May, Vietnam too asked Japan for vessels to strengthen its coast guard, the request coming a month after two Japanese warships visited Cam Ranh Bay in central Vietnam in the first such port call. “There is common ground strategically to be found and diplomatic support to be gained against China,” said Professor Heng Yee Kuang at the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Public Policy.
