The Latest on Covid-19 in Southeast Asia, October 8, 2020
October 8, 2020
Last week, Japan’s new prime minister Yoshihide Suga announced his first international tour as leader. Breaking tradition, his first destination will not be to Japan’s ally the United States, which maintains the highest coronavirus case count in the world. Instead, Suga is headed to Vietnam and Indonesia. The trip reinforces Japan’s support for Southeast Asia on everything from coronavirus response to infrastructure and investment. It follows Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi’s “medical diplomacy” tour through Southeast Asia in August and reflects Tokyo’s desire to counterbalance Beijing’s rising influence in the region.
In the pandemic’s early days, observers noted that Japan was not handling the pandemic as well as neighbors South Korea and Taiwan. The government was slow to respond to the outbreak domestically, failing to produce enough tests to effectively track and trace the pandemic’s spread. Even so, Japan began sending a modest amount of aid to Southeast Asian countries in February and has steadily increased assistance, even while experiencing a second wave of new cases at home.
By the time Japan launched its “medical diplomacy” campaign, China and the United States had been providing large amounts of assistance to the region for months. But in short order, Tokyo’s assistance to Southeast Asia has outpaced that from Washington and likely Beijing. It is hard to put an exact value to China’s donations, which have eschewed cash in favor of equipment and supplies. So far Japan has extended over $1 billion in loans to the Philippines; over $100 million in aid to Mekong countries; separate loans of $280 million for emergency budget support and $140 million for small and medium-sized enterprises in Myanmar; and millions of dollars in other donations and financial support across the region.
A recent CSIS survey showed that Southeast Asian strategic elites believe China is a more powerful influence in Southeast Asia than the United States alone, and that there is a perception that the United States is turning its attention away from the region. Meanwhile, Japan appears to be invested for the long haul, maintaining its position ahead of China as Southeast Asia’s largest infrastructure investor, funding massive projects like the Jakarta-Surabaya highway, and competing directly with Chinese companies for 5G markets in places like Vietnam.
Japan is also clearly invested in the public health of its Southeast Asian neighbors, with which it shares significant economic and people-to-people ties. It therefore makes sense that Suga would prioritize Southeast Asia for his first international trip as prime minister. Undergirding this show of support is, of course, a common strategic interest between Japan, the United States, and some Southeast Asian partners: creating alternatives to China.
For more details on recent developments, visit our Tracker online.
