The Fukuda Doctrine and Japan’s Role in Shaping Post-Vietnam War Southeast Asia

Abstract

Japan’s postwar contribution to international political affairs is often described as limited, primarily due to Japan’s focus on reconstructing and expanding its economy. However, this article argues that since the 1970s, Japan has played an active role in shaping the post-Vietnam War order in Southeast Asia. The Japanese actively sought to address the regional power vacuum that had been left by the diminished American presence and the Sino-Soviet attempts to fill it. To do so, in 1977, Japanese Prime Minister Fukuda Takeo announced a foreign policy initiative, the so-called Fukuda Doctrine. One of its pillars was Japan’s commitment to promoting coexistence and cooperation among ASEAN nations and their communist Indochinese neighbors. Based on declassified documents and other primary sources, this study demonstrates the strategic nature of the Fukuda Doctrine and sheds light on its political, geopolitical, and security objectives. This includes the realization of a Southeast Asian order in which Japan could maintain a position of influence and, through it, enhance its international political role. The strategic implications of this approach explain why Japan continued to pursue the doctrine despite increased regional and global tension following the 1979 outbreak of the Cambodian conflict and renewed Cold War tensions in the early 1980s.