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Against the backdrop of escalating regional security challenges including North Korea's nuclear developments and unilateral attempts to alter the status quo in the East and South China Seas, Japan wants to further cooperate with Malaysia in maintaining and enhancing maritime connectivity and stability in the region.
Kazushige Nobutani, president of the Japan External Trade Organisation (Jetro), is scheduled to come to Bangladesh today along with Yasutoshi Nishimura, minister for economy, trade and industry of Japan. Their visit is aimed at discussing the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) the two countries plan to ink in order to promote trade and investments. In an email interview with
To counter China’s growing military threat and coercive tactics, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has increased Japan’s diplomatic, economic, and security initiatives as well as expanded its coordination with regional partners. Japan has been increasingly direct in its criticism of Beijing’s sovereignty transgressions, human rights violations, and efforts to intimidate its neighbors while more directly linking its security to that of Taiwan.
In November 2017, an international grouping declared dead in 2008 was reborn. That month saw the first meeting of a new iteration of the “Quad”—an assembly of government representatives from Australia, India, Japan, and the U.S. In some ways, it was the physical manifestation of several complementary geostrategic trends: growing comfort and convergence among the four democracies, growing apprehension about China’s rise and threats to international rules and norms setting, and an emerging shared vision for the Indo–Pacific region.
Over the past three years, Sri Lanka has been a bright spot for U.S. foreign policy in the Indo–Pacific. The coalition government led by President Maithripala Sirisena and the more reform-minded prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, has expanded relations with the U.S. and India to balance the country’s firm embrace of China during the tenure of President Mahinda Rajapaksa (2005–2015).