Japan and Southeast Asia: The Lineaments of Quasi-Hegemony

Japan has had a profound influence on Southeast Asia. Whether it is measured by Japan's often brutal, but ultimately liberating, war-time occupation of the region, or by the more recent economic interaction, Japan has played a major part in shaping Southeast Asia's political and economic development. In an East Asian region in which it continues to account for around two-thirds of economic output, Japan towers over its neighbours and inevitably exercises a major influence through sheer economic weight. And yet the most striking quality of this undoubted economic power, is that it is not matched by an equivalent political influence - or certainly not at the conspicuous level of international diplomacy. This paper will attempt to account for this paradox. The first part of this chapter traces the origins and evolution of Japan’s quasi-hegemony. I argue that Japan's preoccupation with economic reconstruction and expansion, its reliance on the US for security, and its general reluctance to adopt an active and independent foreign policy position has lent a distinctively mercantilist cast to its external policies, which systematically privileges the economic over the political. The second section of the chapter looks at the impact of this stance on relations with Southeast Asia. I shall suggest that unless Japan develops a greater capacity and willingness to play a more prominent political role in keeping with its economic power, even this latter influence may be eroded