Shinzo Abe’s Indo-Pacific Doctrine: The Foundation of Japan’s Future Foreign Policy

... term “Indo-Pacific” has been in limited use since the 1960s). Addressing the Parliament of India in 2007 (during his first term as Prime Minister of Japan), Abe spoke of “the confluence of the two seas.” Further on, the “destiny” of the Indo-Pacific was closely tied to Shinzo Abe’s political career. Tokyo’s first attempts to advance a new regional concept ended with Abe’s resignation in 2007 and the defeat of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan at the 2009 parliamentary elections. When Abe became prime minister ...