Photo/Illutration Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba arrives in Laos' capital Vientiane for a series of ASEAN meetings at 4:16 a.m. on Oct. 10. (Hikaru Uchida)

VIENTIANE, Laos—On his first overseas visit after taking office, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba arrived here on the morning of Oct. 10 to attend a series of meetings with ASEAN.

He attended the ASEAN-Japan summit and ASEAN Plus Three (Japan, China and South Korea) summit on Oct. 10. Meetings with Chinese Premier Li Qiang and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol are also planned during his visit.

Ishiba said he will not bring up establishing an “Asian NATO” during his visit. He had repeatedly made this claim during the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's presidential election campaign.

On the evening of Oct. 9 before his departure, Ishiba told reporters he wants to “strengthen the trust between Japan and ASEAN, which we have forged so far.”

Regarding his personal policy idea to create an equivalent of NATO in Asia, he said, “The discussion hasn’t gotten close to a conclusion in the LDP yet. So, I will not suggest it.”

The timing of Ishiba’s first overseas trip as prime minister is unusual, coming less than two weeks after taking office. 

Soon after dissolving the Lower House, he boarded a government plane for Laos at Tokyo's Haneda Airport a few minutes past midnight on Oct. 10. 

Regardless, his visit to a foreign country is a good opportunity for Ishiba to showcase his diplomatic ability to Japanese voters ahead of the Oct. 27 Lower House election.

His diplomacy debut is, however, occurring without much preparation as the visit follows the inauguration of his Cabinet, making it difficult to gauge how he will perform. 

Experts ascertain that Ishiba is choosing to avoid pitching an Asian NATO during this ASEAN meetings because he assumes the response will likely be negative due to Southeast Asian countries highly valuing their relationship with China.

When speaking about it during a Diet session on Oct. 7, Ishiba said he does not believe that an Asian NATO will be realized soon.

Rather, he hopes to strengthen ties with ASEAN at the summits.

The Asia Zero Emission Community (AZEC) summit, where Japan is taking initiatives to advance decarbonization in the Asian region, is scheduled for Oct. 11.

ASEAN countries have high expectations for Japan in this area.

The nations are expected to agree upon establishing rules and launching projects to develop energy transitions at the meeting.

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