As the international system undergoes a major overhaul, Japan is emerging as one pillar of the multilateral rules-based order. Despite being often perceived as a declining country, it remains the world's third largest economy and, as a member of the RCEP, CP-TPP and the Japan-EU Economic Partnership Agreement, plays a key role in trade liberalization and norms shaping. In recent years, Tokyo has also demonstrated a proactive diplomacy, especially in the Indo-Pacific area where it is one of the core stakeholders. In this regard, Japan has become a major partner for Europe and for France.
Through its research activities, Ifri's Center for Asian Studies aims to provide a better understanding of Japan's action in the world and to foster the dialogue and cooperation between France and Japan.
Senior Research Fellow and Director of Ifri's Center for Asian Studies
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Research Fellow,
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Research Fellow, Center for Asian Studies
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Senior Advisor, Center for Asian Studies
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Addressing remotely the 8th Japan-Africa TICAD Summit held in Tunis between August 27th and 28th, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida pledged $30 billion in public and private contributions to the African continent over the course of the next three years. This is a quite a remarkable...
Laying the foundation for the Eighth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD), Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi held talks on 28 March 2022 with ministers from 50 African nations. Hayashi expressed concerns that the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine had...
The war in Ukraine has shaken the foundations of European security and of the global rules-based order. In many ways, Russia’s aggression has been a wake-up call for the EU, adding a sense of urgency to its ongoing transformation to becoming a stronger geopolitical actor, materialised by the...
The war in Ukraine has led to a major rift between Japan and Russia.
On December 18, 2018, the Japanese government issued its latest National Defense Program Guidelines (NDPG), marking another step in Japan’s defense planning and the readiness of the Japan Self-Defense Force (JSDF).
For anyone who still harbored doubts, Washington made crystal clear from the announcement of the new trilateral alliance with Australia and the UK (AUKUS) that countering China is its number one priority, and that it will do whatever it takes to succeed. Much has been said about the...
The announcement of the new AUKUS alliance between Australia, the UK and the U.S. came as a shock for France.
The Indo-Pacific mega-region is home to the world’s most fluid, complex, and dangerous security environment. Lingering traditional security flashpoints (Taiwan Strait, North Korea, territorial disputes) are exacerbated by the rise of China and the US–China great power competition.
In May 2018, French President Emmanuel Macron delivered a speech at the Garden Island Naval Base in Sydney, Australia, where he outlined a French strategy for the Indo-Pacific. With this speech, France formally positioned itself as an ‘Indo-Pacific power’ and became the first European country...
In the 2010s, Japan gradually increased economic connections with the Indian Ocean region (IOR) through trade, foreign direct investment, and official development assistance (ODA).
Annual conference of Ifri's Center for Asian Studies. The war in Ukraine has marked the return of high-intensity conflict in Europe and represents a profound, structural shift in the region’s strategic environment. It also takes place against a backdrop of a decades-long...
The war in Ukraine has highlighted once again the importance that stable supplies of critical raw materials play in building resilient supply chains.
The Russian aggression in Ukraine took most experts and policymakers by surprise and raised questions about the methodology of strategic planning and foresight.
Building up a more sovereign Europe is one of the three main ambitions for the French Presidency of the EU.
How India sees France. A conference with Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, External Affairs Minister of India.
The UK is the first State which formally applied to join the CPTPP. Its bid was accepted in early June.
The era of hyper globalization is now transforming into an age of geoeconomics, where trade and economic relations are increasingly conditioned by national security concerns. What impact will this shift have on the regional trade architecture and economic strategies in East Asia? <...>
The United States is the linchpin of Taiwan’s security. Under Donald Trump’s presidency, as tensions with the People’s Republic of China grew, the US increasingly took steps to signal ever more clearly its commitment to supporting and defending Taiwan, a trend that seems to have continued...
The EU-Japan Green Alliance has been adopted during the 27th EU-Japan Summit in May 2021.
In direct response to the climate diplomacy push by US President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced a new 2030 goal to reduce emissions by 46% from 2013 levels, representing a significant additional effort compared to the country’s previous commitment under the Paris...
Japan, which began developmental programmes in the 1990s, has been eclipsed in recent years by China, now Africa’s leading trade partner.Pledge to invest US$30 billion on the continent includes a focus on training Africans to run their economy.
When Prime Minister Fumio Kishida becomes the first Japanese leader to attend a NATO leaders summit on Wednesday, he’ll be looking to stress the need for unity in preventing China from taking the “wrong lessons” from the Ukraine war as the bloc looks to expand its footprint in the Indo-Pacific...
An interview with Kazuto SUZUKI, Professor, Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Tokyo.
The United States is the linchpin of Taiwan’s security. Under Donald Trump’s presidency, as tensions with the People’s Republic of China grew, the US increasingly took steps to signal...
Alarmed by China’s rising power, its frictions with neighboring countries in the East and South China seas, allegations of human rights abuses in the Xinjiang region and crackdowns in Hong Kong, European countries are seeking to step up their involvement in the Indo-Pacific region.
Since the end of 2019, more than 20 Notes Verbales have been submitted to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf regarding the claims in the South China Sea (SCS).
The COVID-19 pandemics has highlighted the...
The COVID-19 crisis has highlighted the importance of accelerating the digital transformation of both the industry and the society.
The US allies greeted the election of Joe Biden with relief, but also with expectations.
In this interview, Kunihiko MIYAKE, President of the Foreign Policy Institute; Research Director, The Canon Institute for Global Studies (CIGS) and Special Adviser to Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s Cabinet looks at the Japan-US alliance under the Biden administration.
