Diplomacy and Business

For many observers, there was something contradictory about Japan's diplomatic agenda in Manila. Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi met with his counterparts from the QUAD, reaffirmed support for a Free and Open Indo-Pacific, discussed regional security with ASEAN partners, defended freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, and still found time for a brief conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Seen from Brussels or Washington, this may appear inconsistent. Seen from Asia, it is simply diplomacy. Western foreign policy increasingly frames international relations as a choice between competing blocs. Countries are expected to demonstrate loyalty, reduce engagement with rivals…

For decades, Japan cultivated an international identity built on economic strength, technological excellence and constitutional restraint. Security was important, but it rarely defined the country's diplomatic narrative. That balance is gradually changing. Without dramatic announcements or sweeping declarations, Tokyo is steadily expanding its role as a provider of international security. The latest meeting between State Minister for Foreign Affairs Iwao Horii and UN Under-Secretary-General Atul Khare illustrates this evolution. On the surface, it was another routine discussion on UN peacekeeping operations and the Triangular Partnership Programme. In reality, it reflects Japan's growing ambition to shape international security through capacity-building rather…

For much of the post-Cold War era, economic competitiveness was measured by access to markets, labour costs and production capacity. Today, a different variable has moved to the centre of global affairs: trust. Governments, investors and multinational corporations increasingly make strategic decisions based not only on economic efficiency but also on the institutional reliability of their partners. In an era marked by geopolitical fragmentation, trust has become a strategic asset. This transformation is reshaping the international economic landscape. Supply chains are no longer organised solely around cost optimisation; they are increasingly structured around political predictability, regulatory transparency and technological security.…

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's first official visit to India is far more than another bilateral summit. The agreements signed in New Delhi on defence, artificial intelligence, critical minerals, energy security and supply chain resilience reflect a profound transformation in the Indo-Pacific. Japan and India are no longer simply strengthening a partnership. They are laying the foundations of what may become one of the defining strategic relationships of the coming decade. For decades, Asia's economic architecture revolved around China. Regional prosperity depended on Beijing's manufacturing capacity, investment and market size. That reality has not disappeared, but it has been fundamentally altered…

For more than three decades, the global economy was built on a powerful assumption: that deeper economic integration would naturally foster stability, prosperity and peace. Governments lowered trade barriers, companies fragmented production across continents, and efficiency became the defining principle of globalization. Strategic considerations rarely dictated where to manufacture a semiconductor, refine a critical mineral or assemble an electric vehicle. Markets, rather than geopolitics, were expected to determine those choices. That assumption is no longer sustainable. The COVID-19 pandemic first exposed the fragility of global supply chains. Russia's invasion of Ukraine demonstrated how energy could once again become a geopolitical…