Drivers for Japan-EU collaboration in Science Diplomacy - guest blog post
Submitted by Maastricht University on Fri, 05/15/2020 - 12:34
By Prof Yee-Kuang HENG & Nobuyuki SAKAI
Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Tokyo, Japan
Contact: Heng@pp.u-tokyo.ac.jp
This paper is a follow-up to the presentation and discussion that the NORTIA dissemination workshop EU-Japan on 25-26 March 2019 at Waseda University Tokyo. A pdf version is also available at the end of this blostpost.
Introduction
This paper shows how Japan’s interest in science diplomacy was initially heavily premised on economic interests and largely reactive in response to post-war reconstruction needs or external criticism. However, over the past decade, Japan’s science diplomacy has shown signs of becoming more proactive and self-conscious, a trend which bodes well for collaboration with the EU. Yet, an interesting characteristic of Japanese efforts so far is that its science diplomacy is not necessarily led by professional “diplomats” at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The conclusion assesses some recent drivers for intensified EU-Japan science cooperation and the prospects for further strategic cooperation.
Japan’s initial reactive economically-focused approach
In the early post-war years after its defeat in 1945, Japan adopted an economic emphasis in what can be described as “Diplomacy for Science” (Sunami 2016; Arai 1995). Diplomacy and engagement with foreign nations was seen as a tool to obtain technology and science was promoted as an engine of economic growth to fuel its recovery. Post-war reconstruction and the drive to catch-up would be enhanced through technology cooperation. Early examples included the US-Japan bilateral cooperation on science mentioned in the 1961 joint communique issued after the summit meeting between President John F. Kennedy and Prime Minister Hayato Ikeda. Japan also joined the IAEA in 1956 after passing legislation to start its civilian nuclear energy research programme in 1955. The necessity of procuring technological and scientific benefits for driving economic development was driven by powerful ministries like Ministry of Economy, Trade and Investment (METI, formerly Ministry of International Trade and Industry) which focused on promoting certain key sectors to develop such as automobiles and manufacturing.
In the 1980s international criticisms on intellectual property rights (such as lawsuits in the US against Japanese companies for infringing copyright from cameras to semi-conductors), prompted a response in the form of the Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP) funded by Japan, based in Strasbourg. This also facilitated a shift towards promoting basic research that Japan was seen to be relatively weak in (Ayabe 2017). By the 1990s attempts to overcome economic stupor led to new budgets formulated for science technology and information technology hoping to stipulate domestic new industries. These initiatives were on the whole, largely reactive in nature.
In the 2000s, Japanese government structures for science diplomacy started becoming more coordinated and developed. In 2008, the first comprehensive government paper “Toward the Reinforcement of Science and Technology Diplomacy” was published by the Council for Science and Technology Policy (CSTP) of Cabinet Office for the G8 Summit held in Japan that year. This seemed designed to raise Japan’s international presence and even deploys concepts such as "soft power", rather than simply responding to international criticism or industry needs. Scholars argued that this was also related to correcting the legacy of World War Two: Japan now wants to be seen as also a “source of good” (Zupancic and Hribernik 2013). There has as a result been a gradual formalization of science diplomacy. The Cabinet Office has led the entire process of formalization of science diplomacy. Belatedly in 2015, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) launched its own programs on science diplomacy, recognized importance of utilizing science in foreign policy: this meant embracing science for diplomacy (Sunami 2016) Notable moves included the appointment of part-time science advisor Prof. Kishii Teruo at the MOFA, and establishment of the Office of Science-Technology Cooperation.
Interestingly, Science Diplomacy in Japan appears to be not primarily led by its professional foreign ministry diplomats. It is the Council for Science, Technology and Innovation (CSTI) within the Cabinet Office that plays key roles coordinating inter-ministerial policies. The CSTI includes private experts and academia plus four ministries; Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Ministry of Finance (MOF); Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC). In terms of budget allocations for science and technology, MEXT accounts for 51.6% of the Science and Tech related government budget in 2019, METI 16% (calculations by the authors). Strikingly, the country’s professional diplomats at MOFA do NOT sit on the CSTI council.
The diagram shows the main ministries involved in science and technology administration in Japan. (Cabinet Office) As a result of this institutional arrangement, there are many institutional players in Japan’s science diplomacy. Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development (SATREPS) is often mentioned as a key Science diplomacy program. SATREPS is jointly run by Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) and Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED). It is focused on developing countries, utilising Overseas Developmental Aid funding and in partnership with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The Ministry of Agriculture’s Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS) also participates in SATREPS (eg joint-research of drought resistant soybeans in Brazil or biomass sources in Malaysia).
Growing EU-Japan cooperation in science and technology
Since the 1988 EURATOM-Japan Fusion Cooperation Agreement, the focus has broadened beyond atomic energy research since then. A formal EU-Japan Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement was signed on 30 November 2009 and entered into force on 29 March 2011. Selected priority areas for cooperation highlighted in 2009 were active and healthy ageing, low carbon technologies and new materials. At the 2015 meeting of the Joint Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation, these priority issues ranged from ICT and aeronautics and strengthen collaboration in health and medical research, environment, energy and physics. At the 2017 meeting, potential areas for future cooperation discussed include Renewable Energy Research, Arctic Research, Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), Space; and Quantum Technology. The 2019 meeting highlighted thematic cooperation in quantum technology, artificial intelligence (AI), automated and connected driving, hydrogen, healthy aging, regenerative medicine and testing methods, safety of batteries, standards of solar cell, utilization of satellite information, and human-robot interaction. Both sides also agreed to investigate how to better link Horizon Europe programmes with Japan's Moonshot Research and Development Program on disruptive innovation.
Drivers for closer EU-Japan science diplomacy
Broader geopolitical developments have added momentum to EU-Japan partnership which in turn has implications for science diplomacy. The Trump Administration’s shake up of pre-existing relationships with allies in Europe and Asia and questioning of the prior rules-based order in international trade for instance was a key motivating factor in drawing the EU and Japan closer together. The signing of the Japan-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) and Japan-EU Strategic Partnership Agreements (SPA) was described by Donald Tusk in July 2018 as “a light in the increasing darkness of international politics. We are sending a clear message that you can count on us. We are predictable – both Japan and [the] EU.” Science and technology and innovation comes under Article 14 of the SPA, while Article 16 covers outer space and science.
The European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) jointly launched a mission to Mercury in October 2018. JAXA and ESA also issued on a statement on bilateral cooperation 2018. There have also been joint efforts to tackle common challenges on a global scale. Greenhouse gas emissions data was collected by multiple satellites from JAXA and ESA. The RIKEN Europe Office opened in Brussels in November 2018 to expand and coordinate research collaboration with the EU. RIKEN (an abbreviated form of its Japanese name) is Japan’s renowned Institute of Physical and Chemical Research. In October 2018, the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) and European Research Council (ERC) signed a new implementing arrangement on research exchange. These key events in science collaboration were attended not by professional MOFA diplomats but by high-ranking education officials from MEXT including the Minister and Vice-Minister. Japan has also championed free and open access to global commons including the cyber domain and data flows under the Osaka Track unveiled at the G7 summit in 2019. Growing cyber security concerns on both sides may also drive further existing dialogue on information communication technology matters.
Limitations and challenges highlighted by experts in the MOFA meeting minutes 2015
At a meeting held at MOFA in 2015, experts warned of potential ”Japan-passing” in science and technology, compared to advances in other countries such as China, South Korea and India. The bureaucratically fragmented approach to science diplomacy in Japan was also highlighted, a point mirrored by Sunami (2016) that “in Japan there are multiple actors in the government who can each carry out their own S&T diplomacy policy”. Together with Japan’s relatively weak agenda-setting power at multilateral or global fora, Japan’s standards-setting capability was also perceived to be way behind the EU 27 on automobile emissions and manufacturing. Yet Japanese automakers have 35% of EU market share in automobiles.
Conclusions and shifting trends
As both the EU and Japan find themselves in the same boat of trying to salvage the existing international order under the Trump administration, this has given added impetus to accelerate collaboration through science diplomacy as part of a wider framework of strategic partnership between the two sides. At the same time, over the years, it is notable that science diplomacy was once narrowly limited to serving domestic economic reconstruction needs in Japan. This has since evolved and broadened by 2015 to touch on wider concepts of science diplomacy. There has been growing interest in agenda-setting, potential security aspects; and outer space. The Japanese government apparatus, while still bureaucratically fragmented, has started thinking more strategically about the use of science diplomacy to advance its foreign policy goals. These domestic developments in Japan, coupled with wider geopolitical trends suggest that closer EU-Japan collaboration through science diplomacy could well be on the cards.
References
Cabinet Office Japan, "Science and technology administration in Japan", undated, https://www8.cao.go.jp/cstp/english/about/administration.html, accessed 09 December 2019
Zupančič, R. and Hribernik, M. (2013) “Normative Power Japan: The EU's ideational successor or another 'contradiction in terms'?” Romanian Journal of Political Science, Vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 106–136
Ayabe, H. (2017) “Post-reisenki Nihon no kagakugizyutsu seisaku” [Science Technology Policy of Japan in the Post-Coldwar Era] in Nakajima, H, ed. (2017) Post-reisenjidai no kagaku-gizyutsu [Science Technology in the Post-Coldwar Era] Vol.2, Iwanami: Tokyo, pp. 93-118 (in Japanese)
Arai, K. (1995) “Manpower seisaku to rikoh kei daigaku kyouiku no kakudai” [Manpower policy and expansion of engineering universities] in Nakayama, S. (1995) Tsu-shi Nihon no kagaku-gizyutsu [History Overview of Science and Technology of Japan] Vol.3, Gakuyo Shobou, pp. 81-95 (in Japanese)
Sunami, A. (2016) Japan’s Science and Technology Diplomacy, Background Paper, Carnegie Endowment for Peace, 10 February 2016,https://carnegieendowment.org/2016/02/10/japan-s-science-and-technology-diplomacy-pub-63476, accessed on 9 December 2019
The pdf version of this blogpost can be downloaded here.