America and Japan’s vision of an Indo-Pacific free from Chinese threat runs into deep waters
- The ‘free and open Indo-Pacific strategy’ most stridently championed by the US is to some extent supported by members of the Quad security bloc, but Asean refuses to be drawn into any configuration which focuses on a putative China threat
Berthed at Singapore’s Changi Naval Base last week, the warship JS Izumo cut a sharp silhouette. Commissioned in 2015, the Izumo’s career is a reflection of Japan’s success as a regional power.
As Japan’s biggest surface combatant, the Izumo weathered opposition from countries such as China, which accused Japan of launching an aircraft carrier prohibited under its pacifist constitution. Japan insists the Izumo is a helicopter destroyer, and hence legal under its reinterpreted constitution, which permits the deployment of assets for Japan’s defence.
Since then, it has been fairly plain sailing for Izumo and its sister ship, the JS Kaga. The Izumo and the Kaga have in the past three years gone on months-long deployments in the Indo-Pacific, asserting the fundamental right of Japan – and other trade-dependent countries – to open sea-lanes of communication. The freedom of navigation, as well as economic prosperity and the securing of regional stability, is a key pillar of Japan’s “free and open Indo-Pacific strategy”.