Shinzo Abe's security legislation reform and peacebuilding in Mindanao

Recent literature on Japanese foreign policy has focused on analysing the implications of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's security legislation reform for the bilateral security alliance relationship with the US amidst a rising China and the right to collective self-defence. Its impact on Japan's multilateral security policy, in particular, peacebuilding, has so far received little attention. In what ways and to what extent does Japan play a peacebuilding role under this change? This article examines key implications of the security legislation reform, along with the renewal of Japan's Official Development Assistance charter, for its peacebuilding efforts. By taking Mindanao, the Philippines, as a case study, it argues that Abe focuses on taking a foreign aid-centred approach while showing little interest in sending Japanese Self-Defence Force. This article provides a counter-narrative to the claim that Japan is taking a more assertive approach to international security. Abe is more risk-averse as far as his approach to peacebuilding is concerned.     

Bridging between Myanmar and international society – Japan's self-identity and kakehashi policy

Abstract

Numerous academic works have critiqued Japan's Official Development Assistance (ODA) programme for being mercantilist and failing to promote democratization and human rights (Orr 1990; Rix 1993; Arase 1995, 2005). Such accounts assess Japan's ODA policy from Western theoretical perspectives that advocate Western approaches, such as military and economic interventions to contain repressive states. While receptive to these criticisms, Japanese policy-makers have perceived their country's international role in ‘bridging’ (kakehashi) terms and structured their ODA accordingly, as this paper details in the case of Japan's ODA policy towards Myanmar. ¹ 1. Myanmar is used throughout this paper in place of Burma in line with the preference of the Japanese government. Burma is employed when referring to events prior to 1989. The rationale behind Japan's kakehashi approach lies in the construction of Japan's self-identity as a state able to reenter international society after World War II through focusing on economic development rather than military and coercive action. Proponents of the kakehashi approach construct Japan both as a model of successful democratization through development which other states can learn from, as well as the means through ODA to ‘bridge’ the divide between repressive regimes and liberal democratic capitalism. This critical approach examines Japan's kakehashi or bridging strategy in terms of Japan's response to the anti-government protests in September 2007, Cyclone Nargis in May 2008, and in the build up to parliamentary elections in November 2010 in Myanmar to demonstrate the permanence of this approach in spite of a change of government in Japan. In so doing, the kakehashi approach reveals opportunities to engage with, rather than contain, repressive regimes, thereby raising the possibility of enticing such states back into international society though economic incentives.     

日本对华环境外交:构建战略互惠关系的新支柱

环境外交是日本外交战略的重要一翼。近年来日本为了改善同周边邻国的相互关系,尤其是为了在争取"入常"问题上能得到东亚各国的支持,企图抓住环境保护与国际合作这个国际政治的"第三重要课题",欲从环境外交入手拓展自己的外交空间,提升自身的国际地位。在环境保护领域,中日有着共同的战略利益,也存在需要共同面对的可持续发展的环境和社会课题。环境外交正日益成为中日关系调整的平衡器,对促进相互理解与信赖,调整双边关系起着重要的杠杆作用,也为构筑更高层次的战略互惠关系奠定了基础。日本政府着意改善中日关系、构建战略互惠关系的外交新起点也正是从环境保护合作开始的。     

日本在缅甸的平衡外交:特点与困境

冷战时期,日本与缅甸建立了特殊的历史友好关系,但在1988年以后双边关系较为冷淡。尽管日本之后一再努力,希望恢复昔日对缅影响与特殊的邦交,但收效甚微。日本在对缅关系上,一方面利用援助制裁实行有限的压力政策,另一方面又保持对缅接触,实行制裁和接触政策之间的中间路线。日本在缅甸问题上表现出的两面性,是其在国内各界分歧、日美基轴外交与亚洲独立外交、国家利益与价值观外交之间相互平衡的结果。     

日本谋求常任理事国进程中的ODA外交

冷战结束后的10年间,日本0DA的金额每年都位居世界第一,日本以此作为谋求成为联合国安理会常任理事国的重要外交手段,这一阶段日本的0DA也从以谋求经济利益为主要目标转变为更重视政治利益的外交手段.     

日本对华“政府开发援助”与“利民工程无偿援助”的发展及开展方式

日本对华“政府开发援助”(ODA)和“利民工程无偿援助”,在20世纪的不同年代中不断地发展变化,这些发展变化都是基于战后日本外交的原则立场,制订、实施、运作和调整经济外交和对外援助方针的结果。日本对华ODA的发展,及其利民工程援助形态,以及它们的实施方式,对中日经济交流与合作的发展产生着重要影响。     

The domestic politics of international development in South Korea: stakeholders and competing policy discourses

Abstract

The paper examines the domestic politics surrounding South Korea's foreign aid policy. It delineates the institutional characteristics and strategic interests of key government and non-government stakeholders, and suggests an analytical framework to comprehend the country's aid policy regime. It suggests that two competing policy discourses exist – one emphasising ‘intellectual leadership’ and the other ‘ethical leadership’ as the key principle of aid policy. In practice, the country's political leadership promulgates a complex amalgam of these discourses in alignment with their own political imperatives and interests. The paper discusses ‘Global Saemaul Undong’ as such an example under the incumbent Park Geun-Hye administration.     

日本对东南亚国家的ODA政策及其新动向

官方开发援助是一种经济外交的载体,是一种典型的国际经济关系政治化的表现.日本作为一个ODA提供大国,其对东南亚国家的投入占了相当大的一部分.本文通过分析日本对东南亚国家提供官方发展援助的政策形成过程以及最新动向,对其背后所隐藏的新时代日本外交政策的走向进行了论述.     

日本对蒙古援助分析

以苏联解体和蒙古向市场经济转型为契机,1991年日本正式开始了对蒙古的官方发展援助(ODA),并以相对较小的成本,长期成为国际社会对蒙援助的最大援助国。根据蒙古经济发展的不同阶段和国家战略需求,日本对蒙援助经历了紧急救济型援助、有计划的恢复型援助和有计划的发展型援助三个阶段。ODA成为20世纪90年代以来维系和加深日蒙关系的关键,对促进蒙古经济社会的恢复与发展,推动蒙古市场经济转型等发挥了重要作用。通过对蒙援助,日本提高并巩固了自身在东北亚地区的战略地位,提升了自己的国际影响力和国际形象,为其获得广阔的市场和丰富的资源提供了便利条件。     

日本对华援助(ODA)政策调整的原因分析

日本对华援助是在中国放弃日本战争赔款和国际形势发生重大变化、要促进中日两国和平友好相处的背景下产生的,20多年来,日本对华“援助”在中国大地的改革开放过程中,谱写了中日友好的新篇章。但是,近年来,由于国际形势和中日两国国内情况的变化,中日关系在逐步倒退。日本开始改变初衷,即对华援助从过去的以经济利益为目的转向以政治利益为目的。日本对华ODA政策作了大幅调整,“援助”金额逐渐减少,而且,日本政要多次表示对华经援“总有一天要毕业”。日本方面出现了与初衷不同的做法,给两国关系正常化带来了不利的影响。