Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has paid visits to Malaysia, which this year holds the chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Natio

Indonesia has a desire to maintain good relations with all nations, so that it can reduce tensions between major countries, declares the Indonesian President

The Japanese prime minister visited Indonesia and Malaysia, as part of efforts to integrate the Southeast Asian nations into Tokyo’s preparations for a catastrophic US-led war against China.

Since good relations with member countries of ASEAN are indispensable to Japan’s economy and national security, it should aim for deeper ties of equal partnership with each nation.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s visits to Malaysia and Indonesia in his first bilateral diplomatic efforts since taking office are believed to have been aimed at maintaining ties between Japan and the two emerging powers.

Experts say that Ishiba's decision to prioritize Malaysia and Indonesia was a sign of the importance of the two major regional economies.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s wife Yoshiko made her diplomatic debut in Indonesia as the first lady, accompanying him to the country and Malaysia.

Japan will give Indonesia two high-speed patrol boats, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Saturday, as Tokyo seeks to boost regional maritime security cooperation in the face of competing territorial claims with China.

Dr Taizo Miyagi of Chuo University told The Straits Times that while the relationship that Japan has built with Asean since the end of World War II has been a “great asset for its diplomacy”, Japan’s presence in the region has inevitably weakened relative to China’s.

Japan positions itself as a key regional stabilizer amid growing security concerns, potential U.S. diplomatic shifts, analysts said.

Professor Yanto Santoso, a senior faculty member at the Faculty of Forestry, IPB University, stated that President Prabowo