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Japan stands with partners to preserve Free and Open Indo-Pacific

Felix Kim

Japan continues to demonstrate its commitment to a Free and Open Indo-Pacific by showing solidarity with countries concerned about the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC’s) expansionist behavior. Notably, Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) engaged in a previously unannounced exercise, pictured, on October 6, 2020, with the Indonesian Navy near the Natuna Islands. Jakarta has accused Beijing of encroaching on its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the area.

The exercise followed the fourth iteration of the Japan-India maritime exercise, or JIMEX, in the Arabian Sea from September 26 to 28 and preceded an anti-submarine warfare exercise in the South China Sea on October 9.

The JS Kaga, an Izumo-class helicopter carrier, and JS Ikazuchi, a guided-missile destroyer, participated in the exercises before making a port call at Cam Ranh Bay in Vietnam. The exercises preceded Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s trip to Hanoi and Jakarta, which began October 18, The Japan Times newspaper reported.

“Japan is signaling to China who its friends are, what it can do, where it can go, sort of in a contrast to what China can and cannot do,” Japan defense analyst Jeffrey Hornung of the Rand Corp. told FORUM. “You see Japan in the South China Sea with its Maritime Self-Defense Force in what I call presence operations throughout the region showing people who their friends are.”

The exercise near the Natuna Islands represented “important signaling” to the PRC, Hornung said, because Jakarta’s dispute with Beijing over that area mirrors Tokyo’s dispute with the PRC concerning Japan’s Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea.

“Japan is not making any comments on the sovereignty of Natuna,” Hornung said. “But what we see under Suga is a continuation of proactive contributions to peace, being more proactive in the region and showing a more proactive face with ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] countries.”

In addition to the exercises, Japan has engaged in capacity-building efforts with ASEAN coast guards. It has donated 10 offshore patrol vessels to the Philippines since 2016 and five to Vietnam since 2014.

Indonesia’s participation in the Natuna exercise, along with its official protests to Beijing over intrusions into its EEZ by Chinese government vessels, demonstrates a shared distaste for the PRC’s unlawful claims to other countries’ territories, Hornung said.

“What you do see happening is states are increasingly becoming more vocal in their opposition to Chinese coercion,” he said. “States become more vocal and become more willing to send these signals to China, and Japan is always a willing partner to do that.”

Felix Kim is a FORUM contributor reporting from Seoul, South Korea.

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