French President Emmanuel Macron will make his first, what is deemed to be a long overdue visit to Japan, a year after his previous travels to Asia led him to China (January 2018), India (March 2018), and Australia (May 2018). Arguably, his belated visit does not reflects a lack of interest or engagement in bilateral relations with Tokyo. Since his election, Macron has met six times the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was invited as guest of honor to Bastille Day last year. In 2018, the two countries celebrated the 160th anniversary of their bilateral relations, and the partnership is advancing on all fronts: from economic cooperation, with the implementation of the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement, to an ambitious space agenda.
A new roadmap to expand the cooperation for the next five years will be adopted during Macron’s visit. But the most promising area to upgrade the “Exceptional Partnership” is likely to be maritime security cooperation in the Indo-Pacific area.
Japan stands out as a key partner as France has been recently developing an Indo-Pacific strategy. The French government has shown its resolve to step up its diplomatic and security commitments in this vast area where it has 1.6 million citizens, territories, and a large Exclusive Economic Zone. Key challenges such as China’s maritime expansion and growing constraints on the freedom of navigation, crimes at sea, proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction, terrorism, but also natural disasters and pressure on maritime resources are increasingly putting French interests at risk. In response, Paris wants to foster a multipolar, rules-based Indo-Pacific in partnership with like-minded countries.
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