Date: Tuesday, 4 October 2022
Time: 09.00 - 10.30 GMT+7
Platform: Zoom Meetings & Youtube Livestream
Speaker: Dr. Hosoya Yuichi, Professor of International Politics at Keio University, Tokyo
Moderator: Dr. Hafiiz Hashim, Universiti Brunei Darussalam
Strategic Relations in the Indo-Pacific Region: Will a War Happen?
A war between China and the United States will probably happen due to some unintended or intended clash around Taiwan. Now, one of the keys is that the two great powers - the United States and China - intend to continue to support this neutral understanding. If they lose their interest in maintaining this mutual understanding, the confrontation and the relationship between the two countries will become much more severe and soon afterwards, maybe we will see a war happen.
Japan’s New Diplomatic Initiative: “Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy”
Japan has become a much more important strategic player in the region. Until then, many people thought that the United States and China were two leading players in this region. In August 2016, PM Abe launched a new diplomatic initiative called the Free and Open Indo-Pacific strategy. One of the main aims of this policy is to consolidate the rule-based international order in this uncertain time. The combination of Japan’s Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy and Japan’s much more cooperative policy towards China is important because without Chinese rule, Japan’s policy cannot be successful. It is because Asia cannot prosper without China's rule or economy.
China as the US’ “Strategic Competitor” in its Indo-Pacific Strategy
Under Biden’s administration, the United States has shifted from the previous strategy of meeting challenges in the Indo-Pacific, the Middle East, and Europe to a new one which singularly points out China as the only competitor to the US in its Interim National Security Strategy guidelines of March 2021. This strategy remained the same in a new Indo-Pacific Strategy published in February 2022.