ABSTRACT
Japan is important to the ASEAN member nations, and they are important to Japan. Some ASEAN leaders are quick to note that Japan has achieved economically what she failed to gain militarily and that the resulting relationships are disproportionately beneficial to Japan. The peace and stability of the ASEAN region are essential to Japan. It has often been argued that Japan is more important to ASEAN than is ASEAN to Japan and in purely economic terms there is much evidence to support such a conclusion. Malays who dominate foreign policy met the Japanese under circumstances considerably different from those in the Philippines. The anti-Japanese rebels were almost exclusively Chinese--the same guerrillas who fought the British and Malaysian forces later. ASEAN's peaceful partnership with Japan is open-ended, uncertain in terms of costs and benefits, and fraught with ill-defined risks for future generations if not for.
