Japan's economic diplomacy towards East Asia : fragmented realism and naive liberalism

Abstract

With strong trends towards regionalism in East Asia, Japan began to show clearer measures and ideas to promote regional economic integration and cooperation. Japan's economic diplomacy incorporates two distinctive orientations: strategic reaction and benign cooperation. The strategic reaction is characterized as “fragmented realism” in that Japan has not formulated the reaction under the cohesive grand design with concerted efforts by government agencies. The benign cooperation is characterized as “naïve liberalism” in that Japan has failed to develop regional institutions and utilize specific norms as linchpins to maintain influence in East Asia. This paper identified these two orientations in Japan’s trade policy, commitments to the East Asia summit, and functional cooperation in information technology and agricultural fields.