In this Strategic Update, Professor Yee-Kuang Heng investigates European power projection and presence in the Indo-Pacific, and its converging nature with Japan’s attempt to shape the regional environment in its favour. While UK threat perceptions have converged significantly with Japan’s since former Prime Minister David Cameron’s promulgation of a “golden era” in relations with China, managing expectations of Japan’s attempt to ‘shape’ and encourage Europeanisation remains crucial. But is it fair to conclude that Japan has been successful in encouraging a stronger European presence to help it shape the Indo-Pacific order?
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Shaping the Indo-Pacific? Japan and Europeanisation
This was published on Tuesday 2 November 2021.
About the author
Yee-Kuang Heng is Professor at the Graduate School of Public Policy at The University of Tokyo, Japan and is an Associate at LSE IDEAS. He holds a BSc (First Class Hons) and PhD in International Relations from LSE. Currently working on Japan and the European military presence in the Indo-Pacific, he has previously held faculty positions lecturing at Trinity College Dublin; the University of St Andrews in Scotland; and the National University of Singapore. Recent publications on this topic include “UK-Japan military exercises and mutual strategic reassurnace” Defence Studies, Vol. 21 Issue 3 (2021) and “Enhancing Europe’s Global Power in Asia 2030”, Global Policy, Vol. 11 Issue 1 (2020).