- 期刊
Reboot, Continuity, or Adaptation? Making Sense of Japan's FOIP Vision Update in the Context of China and Taiwan
重啟、連續性還是適應？在中國和臺灣的背景下理解日本的FOIP願景更新
摘要
Since its inception in late 2016, Japan's Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) vision has continued to adapt to a shifting global order associated with an intensification of the US-China strategic competition, technological innovation, competition for influence in the so-called Global South, and global challenges such as climate change. The FOIP includes wide-ranging initiatives. These include economic partnerships such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), energy cooperation in the form of Asia Zero Emission Community, and security and defense cooperation through the annual Indo-Pacific Deployment. Japan's political will and vision to uphold a free and open, rules-based international order has obtained buy-in from like-minded partners in the region and beyond. The term "Indo-Pacific" has effectively replaced the previously common "Asia-Pacific" and it is now understood as a geographical and strategic frame of reference for the region. This is puzzling as Japan did not have a policy document stipulating the ways and the means of achieving a FOIP region until Prime Minister Kishida's speech in New Delhi in March 2023 and his announcement of the FOIP Vision update. How has Japan achieved this success in the adoption of the Indo-Pacific framing? How do we make sense of Japan's FOIP vis-à-vis its relations with China and Taiwan? By employing the pyramid principle, this paper seeks to unpack and examine the construct of Japan's FOIP in the context of Japan's national interests. The research reveals that the recent FOIP update signifies strategic continuity rather than a reboot, with tactical adjustments in place. While it shows that FOIP has not been an effective mechanism for cooperation with Japan's closest neighbors such as China, Taiwan is implicitly integrated as an essential partner in Japan's FOIP version 3.0.
並列摘要
自2016年底日本提出「自由與開放的印太」（Free and Open Indo-Pacific, FOIP）構想以來，該政策願景持續因應全球秩序變化而調整，而此等秩序變化與美中戰略競爭的加劇、科技創新、爭奪於所謂「全球南方」的影響力，以及氣候變遷等全球挑戰有關。FOIP涵蓋廣泛的倡議，包括如《全面與進步跨太平洋夥伴關係協定》的經貿夥伴關係、如亞洲零排放共同體的能源合作，以及透過年度進行之印太部署的安全與防務合作。日本維護自由、開放和基於規則之國際秩序的政治願景，已得到了印太地區及其他理念相近夥伴的支持。此外，「印太」一詞在取代了此前常用的「亞太」一詞後，被理解為此區域的地理和戰略框架的代稱。而令人困惑的是，日本直到2023年3月，根據其首相岸田文雄在新德里的演講及其宣布的FOIP修正願景，才讓日本終於有一份明確說明如何實現FOIP地區的政策文件。日本是如何成功促成印太框架的採用？我們應當如何理解日本的FOIP政策以及其對中國和臺灣的關係？本文透過金字塔原理，試圖在日本國家利益的脈絡下解析並審視日本FOIP的構想，本研究並發現，最近的FOIP修正並非意味日本戰略的重啟，而是戰略延續與戰術調整。儘管本研究顯示FOIP未能成為日本與其距離最近之鄰國（如中國）的有效合作機制，但臺灣卻隱性整合成為日本FOIP3.0版本中的關鍵夥伴。