Japan follows US to return to SE Asia (2)

Senior researcher at the East Asian Institute of the National University of Singapore Zhao Hong told the reporter of People's Daily, "Japan and some Southeast Asian countries have territorial disputes with China so all of them have the need of balancing China." Director with the East Asian Institute of the National University of Singapore Zheng Yongnian said that the AESAN countries heavily depend on China in economy, so Japan is impossible to ""encircle" and contain China by allying with these countries.

Director with Center on Asia and Globalization under the National University of Singapore Huang Jing said that Shinzo Abe visited Southeast Asia because he had no other choices. The United States does not want to receive Shinzo Abe because it has realized Japan's tendency of nationalism. Japan is frequently in conflicts with its neighbors and the right-deviational political tendency is getting increasingly obvious, which has made a stir in the world. Therefore, Japan places its hope of reviving domestic economy on the Southeast Asian market.

Huang said that Japan’s economy relies heavily on exports and the Southeast Asian region stands out during the downturn of world economy. Another purpose for Japanese leader's visits is to further develop the Southeast Asian market and revive its domestic economy.

"For Japan, the ASEAN countries are both an important production base and a huge consumer market. The wild goose-type mode of division of labor has become outdated and now Japanese enterprises are faced with competition from Chinese and South Korean enterprises in Southeast Asia," an associate representative of Japan-ASEAN commission for economic and industrial cooperation told the reporter. With the establishment of ASEAN Free Trade Area in 2015, Japanese enterprises will move more research and development centers and headquarters to the ASEAN countries because the products developed there can better meet the needs of local people.

Read the Chinese version: 日本仿效美国“重返东南亚”
, source: People's Dail

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