Uncle Sam may be pulling out from the Indo-Pacific—can a post-pacifist Japan could help fill the vacuum?

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.It has been almost two decades since the late Shinzo Abe [former prime minister of Japan] stood in India’s parliament and told the assembled legislators that “it is incumbent upon us two democracies, Japan and India, to carry out the pursuit of freedom and prosperity in the region.” Abe defined their task as protecting freedom of navigation in what he was perhaps the first to call the Indo-Pacific. That task has gotten only more urgent as America withdraws—or, more recently, imposes blockades on crucial straits—and China pushes harder against the first island chain.

Abe’s vision never really became reality, because Japan’s efforts with India and others in Asia always had self-imposed limits. There’s a chance, however, now that Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae has eliminated some of those constraints.

With the revision last week of rules to remove restrictions on overseas sales of lethal weapons, Japan can export advanced equipment, including warships and missiles, and support its partners’ defence far more directly. There’s a great deal of pent-up demand that Tokyo is moving to satisfy as quickly as possible.

Last weekend, Australia announced the purchase of three Mogami-class frigates, made by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. And when Japan’s defence minister Shinjiro Koizumi visits the Philippines and Indonesia in a few days, some more deals are likely to be announced.

Indonesia is reportedly interested in those upgraded frigates as well.This process should have begun a few years ago, when countries’ budgets weren’t under quite as much pressure. They’re now burdened by higher levels of debt and security planners are struggling to figure out whether to spend scarce hard currency on expensive