No Longer the 'Reactive State': Japan's Pro-Active Free Trade Posture
In late 2010, the Kan government proclaimed a very ambitious trade agenda, leaving no doubt as to its commitment to free trade. The Basic Policy on Comprehensive Economic Partnerships aimed to promote "high-level economic partnerships with major trading powers" and to "open up the country", including collecting information on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and consulting with the parties to it.
These developments signalled a new level of Japanese foreign economic policy activism and an important departure from Japan's typically "reactive state" posture.
The paper offers a multi-factorial explanation for the Kan government's adoption of a pro-active free trade agenda. It also provides an examination of the March triple disaster on the farm sector, given that agriculture remains a major impediment to free trade.
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No Longer the 'Reactive State': Japan's Pro-Active Free Trade Posture
Center for Asian Studies
Asia is a nerve center for multiple global economic, political and security challenges. The Center for Asian Studies provides documented expertise and a platform for discussion on Asian issues to accompany decision makers and explain and contextualize developments in the region for the sake of a larger public dialogue.
The Center's research is organized along two major axes: relations between Asia's major powers and the rest of the world; and internal economic and social dynamics of Asian countries. The Center's research focuses primarily on China, Japan, India, Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific, but also covers Southeast Asia, the Korean peninsula and the Pacific Islands.
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