FOIP (Japan)

The Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) concept was articulated by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe in a speech to the Sixth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD VI) in Nairobi in August 2016. It reframed Japan's strategic geography by linking "two oceans" (the Pacific and Indian) and "two continents" (Asia and Africa), positioning Japan as a maritime power with interests stretching from East Africa to the Pacific Islands.

FOIP traditionally rests on three pillars:

• Promotion of the rule of law, freedom of navigation, and free trade
• Pursuit of economic prosperity through quality infrastructure and connectivity
• Commitment to peace and stability, including capacity-building for maritime law enforcement

Although Abe initially described FOIP as a "strategy," Tokyo softened the language to "vision" around 2018 to make it more inclusive and less overtly directed at China, encouraging ASEAN states to engage without forcing a binary choice. The ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP), adopted in June 2019, was partly accommodated within Japan's framing.

FOIP underpins Japan's coordination with the Quad (Japan, United States, Australia, India), its expanded security ties with the Philippines and Vietnam, and infrastructure initiatives such as the Partnership for Quality Infrastructure. In March 2023, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced a "New Plan for a Free and Open Indo-Pacific" during a visit to New Delhi, pledging roughly USD 75 billion in public and private financing for Indo-Pacific infrastructure by 2030 and emphasizing four new pillars including principles for peace and addressing challenges with Indo-Pacific partners.

The United States, Australia, India, the EU, France, Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, and Canada have since adopted their own Indo-Pacific strategies broadly compatible with FOIP, making it one of the most influential conceptual exports of postwar Japanese diplomacy.