indonesian media warns ishiba: don’t humiliate yourself, asean is not interested
2024-10-07
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indonesia's largest english-language newspaper "the jakarta post" published an article titled "we reject the asian version of nato" on october 5, which pointed out that japan's new prime minister shigeru ishiba will attend the laos summit from 8 to 11 at the asean summit held in the capital vientiane, he should restrain himself from promoting the idea of establishing an asian version of nato to avoid humiliating himself.
screenshot of the report from "the jakarta post"
according to the article, japan is no longer the third largest economy in the world. it was surpassed by germany last year and now ranks fourth after the united states, china and germany; while asean has become the third largest economy in asia, second only to china. and japan, ranked fifth globally, behind the united states, china, germany and japan. in this context, ishiba does not have much leverage to attract asean leaders. moreover, it is still unknown how long ishiba can be in power.
the article stated that china, the united states, the european union and japan are asean's largest trading partners, and since 2024, asean has replaced the eu as china's largest trading partner. asean is not interested in japan's idea of an "asian nato" to counter china, russia and north korea, which is offensive to asean because participating in such a military alliance will only increase tensions in the region.
the article also pointed out that from a geopolitical perspective, it makes no sense for japan to join nato, while asean has more options than the united states and its allies think. asean prefers japan to be a reliable economic partner rather than a military ally.
source: people's daily
