Japan

Japan is the third-most influential country overall in Southeast Asia, and the only country other than China and the United States to have a presence across all dimensions of influence and in both mainland and maritime Southeast Asia (Japan ranks among the top five partners for all countries but Timor-Leste). Across Southeast Asia overall, Japan ranks second for diplomatic influence, third for economic relationships, and fourth for cultural influence and defence networks. Notably, Japan’s relevance as a defence partner has risen substantially since 2017, when it ranked just 15th as a defence cooperation partner overall. But Japan has lost relative weight as an economic partner over this time, due to China’s increasing importance as a source of private investment to the region.