リサーチ・フェロー（第2期） John Fredrick Bradford

研究サマリー

For over fifty years, Japan has been the leading provider of maritime security assistance to Southeast Asia. This support has been non-military, focusing on maritime safety and law enforcement. In the last decade, Japan has sought to become more involved in the region's military security. However, Japanese capacity-building efforts aimed at ASEAN states' ability to deter wars and win naval contests have made little progress.

This study explores why Japan's efforts to expand military defense cooperation with ASEAN states has progressed so slowly. The fact that these activities have been so limited when Japan appears ready to deliver and Southeast Asia appears ready to receive poses a puzzle that can only be solved through original research.

In terms of military training activities with Southeast Asian partners, the SDF has expanded beyond non-traditional security in only two cases. First, Japan-Philippines military exercises are becoming increasingly frequent and sophisticated. Second, JGSDF forces have joined the Indonesia-US combat exercise Super Garuda Shield.

Japan's efforts to provide military equipment have also been slow to grow, even though Japan has a solid history of providing constabulary equipment such as patrol boats and observation aircraft. Efforts to sell frigates and flying boats to Indonesia have yet to bear fruit. Malaysia and Vietnam declined donations of naval maritime patrol aircraft. Thus far, Japan has only provided military defense equipment to the Philippines.

My hypothesis considers both the supply and demand aspects of cooperation. Perhaps Japan is ready to do more as a matter of policy but is not applying sufficient resources to lower the financial costs or reduce bureaucratic barriers. On the demand side, good experiences with constabulary equipment may have not stimulated appetite for Japanese military hardware. The research will include document analysis and interviews with Japanese and Southeast Asian officials directly involved in international security cooperation decisions.