In the ninth episode of Japan Memo season 3, Robert Ward and Yuka Koshino host Ambassador Sujan Chinoy, the Director General of the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) in New Delhi who served as the Indian ambassador to Japan from 2015 to 2018; and Ambassador Masafumi Ishii, a Distinguished Visiting Professor of Gakushuin University who was the Japanese ambassador to Indonesia from 2017 to 2020.

Robert, Yuka, Ambassador Chinoy and Ambassador Ishii discuss Japan’s relationship with the Global South countries to navigate the complex international security and geo-economic environment amid Russia’s War in Ukraine and the US-China great power competition. The guests provide their insights on the evolving significance of the Global South, Japanese policies towards India and Indonesia, and the opportunities and challenges looking ahead.

Topics discussed include:

The growing importance of the Global South in international affairs;
Japan’s engagement with ASEAN countries to deal with the Russian and Chinese challenges to rules-based international order;
The political motivation of Japan for engaging with India and Indonesia to tackle global security issues;
Potential role of Japan as a bridge between the West and the Global South as the chair of this year’s G7; and
Speaker perspectives on the opportunities and challenges in the future cooperation between Japan and the Global South.

The following literature is recommended by our guests to gain a clearer picture of the topics discussed:

Edwin O. Reischauer, Japan, The Story of a Nation, (Vermont: Charles E. Tuttle Co., 1988)
Ruth Benedict, The Chrysanthemum and the Sword, (Indianapolis: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1946)

We hope you enjoy the episode and please follow, rate, and subscribe to Japan Memo on the podcast platform of your choice.

Date of Recording: 24 August 2023

Japan Memo is recorded and produced at the IISS in London.

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Japan and the Global South with Ambassad...