Ricardo Saludo
It was the latest episode of a regionwide contest among China, America and Japan to win over members of Association of Southeast Asian Nations. At the Commemorative Summit marking 40 years of Asean-Japan relations in Tokyo on December 12-14, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pressed the flesh and flashed yen by the trillions. He sought to win the grouping’s support in Tokyo’s confrontation with Beijing over the latter’s declaration of an air defense identification zone including the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyutai islands, now under Japanese control.