Policy in Central Asia (1992-2016)

The paper aims at highlighting the main periods of Japan's foreign policy evolution and evaluating its positions in the region. To this end, factors shaping Japan's policy in Central Asia are revealed, the dynamics of its presence in the region in the 1990s - 2010s is reconstructed, major initiatives of Japanese diplomacy in Central Asia are scrutinized and trade and economic relations between Japan and Central Asian countries and its official development assistance are analyzed. The research relies on the systems approach to the history of international relations in the regions, and methods of the analysis of documents, the analysis of political discourse as well as the descriptive method are used. The original sources include treaties and agreements concluded between Japan and Central Asian countries, statements and interviews of politicians and officials, economic statistics and materials of mass media and news agencies. The authors' conclusions are as follows. In the 1990s Central Asia was a distant periphery of Tokyo's foreign policy. Prime Minister Hashimoto's "Eurasian diplomacy', an initiative announced in 1997, was focused on Russia and failed to bring about changes in Japan - Central Asia relations. In the early 2000s Japan's policy in the region received an impetus from the US growing activism in Central Asia and Japan's involvement in Afghanistan. Japanese embassies throughout the region were opened and strategic partnership with Uzbekistan declared. In 2004 Tokyo launched its first region-wide initiative, the "Central Asia plus Japan dialogue". Its main idea was promoting intra-regional cooperation in Central Asia along the lines similar to South-East Asia. Taking a good start, the multilateral dialogue lost intensity in the late 2000s as there was hardly any meaningful intra-regional cooperation of which Japan could act as a «catalyst». As Abe government began re-energizing Tokyo's foreign policy and making diplomatic overtures in new foreign policy arenas, its attention turned to Central Asia as well. Japan's renewed focus on Central Asia was mostly motivated by its intensified rivalry with China and the need to counterbalance Chinese economic expansion into Central Asia. In October 2015 Japan's Prime Minister visited all the five Central Asian countries promising major Japanese investment in a variety of business projects. Japan has earned a good reputation in the region, both with the elites and the wider public. At the same time, while wielding the "soft power" instruments, Japan has consistently tried to "depoliticize" its Central Asian diplomacy and remained strategically overshadowed by the US. A search for greater influence in the region will make Tokyo resort to a wider range of economic and political levers and to alliance building.

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