FOIP: Japan's ocean counter to China

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FOIP - Free and open Indo-Pacific 

Japan's FOIP is seen as a response to China's Belt and Road Initiative, which has been criticized for its lack of transparency and potential to create debt traps for participating countries. Japan's FOIP is expected to strengthen ties with its allies in the region and promote a more stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific. A variety of challenges, including piracy, terrorism, the spread of WMD, and natural disasters are present throughout the Indo-Pacific region.

 Japan seeks to ensure a rules-based international order, including the rule of law, freedom of navigation and overflight, the resolution of conflicts via peaceful means, and the promotion of free trade in order to make the Indo-Pacific free and open as "international public goods".

image source: Ministry of foreign affairs of Japan

On 20th March during his visit to India, Japan’s prime minister Fumio Kishida announced the Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) strategy, which aims to promote economic growth and security in the region. The strategy includes a range of initiatives, such as infrastructure development, maritime security cooperation, and support for the rule of law.

The core of Japan's FOIP is just the rules for prosperity and the principles for peace. It includes respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity. He expressed that the centrality of a free, fair, and just economic order was essential while emphasizing the need for further liberalization.


Addressing challenges in an Indo-Pacific way

Together with addressing the primary problem of maintaining peace, cooperation is needed to address the growing threats to the global commons, such as those posed by the environment, global health, and cyberspace Fumio pledged further Japanese collaboration in these areas while highlighting the country's decision to donate 50 million dollars in emergency food help to Asia, the Middle East, and Africa as well as corn seeds and other relief to Ukrainian farmers in need. Importantly, he made clear that the “proliferation of disinformation is a common challenge in all countries that hinders people’s political self-determination and threatens the autonomy of nations.”

The multi-layered connectivity

Fumio said that there are parallels between Japan's FOIP and the ASEAN Perspective for the Indo-Pacific. Making this comment he promised that Japan would increase its contribution to the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund by 100 million US dollars. (e.g._ East-West corridor and Southern economic corridor)

The second region is South Asia, with Northeast India receiving special attention. In order to support the expansion of the entire area, he declared that Japan will work with India and Bangladesh to establish the Bay of Bengal-Northeast India industrial value chain idea. (e.g. North East Connectivity Improvement Project in India and Bengal Bay Industrial Growth Zone)

Japan will continue to support the nations in the region, from South East Asia to South East Africa through South West Asia and the Middle East (e.g. Mombasa Port) he insisted.

A Commitment to peace and stability

The purpose is to safeguard the oceans from escalating geopolitical hazards. Japan places a strong emphasis on refraining from aggression and the use of force, as well as the need for states to demonstrate their claims in line with international law. Japan vowed to support efforts to strengthen each country's ability to enforce maritime law through the growth of its human resources, increased coordination between coast guard agencies, and cooperative training with other countries' coast guards.

image source: Ministry of foreign affairs of Japan


Japan has also been increasing its defense capabilities and cooperating with other countries in the region to address security challenges. Overall, Japan's Indo-Pacific strategy aims to promote stability and prosperity in the Indo-pacific region by Improving (a) “physical connectivity” including quality infrastructure development such as ports, railways and roads, energy, and ICT; (b) “people-to-people connectivity” through human resources development; and (c) “institutional connectivity” through facilitating customs, among others.

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