This is one of four country papers resulting from the ASEAN Regional Studies Programme. Relying on primary data collected through field surveys and various materials including those from official sources not readily available in published form, the papers deal comprehensively with the problems related to the task of acquiring technology from developed countries - specifically Japan. In addition to the identification and examination of problems and issues common to the ASEAN countries, each paper gives a lucid account of special factors related to the state of technology transfer skills enhancement in the particular country concerned.

The central puzzle in the study of Japanese foreign policy has been why Japan has continued to play a passive role in international affairs, despite its impressive economic and political power. Challenging this central puzzle, the core argument of this study is to present an alternative path for the study of Japanese foreign policy. In fact, in recent years Japanese foreign policy has become less dependent on the United States, more strategic towards Asia, and more energetic towards international and regional institutions. One of the main features is multilateralism in Japanese foreign policy, as shown by Japan's active participation in the regional institutions. In pursuing multilateralism, Japan cooperated closely with the only durable regional body in Southeast Asia, to wit, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Given the fact that East Asian regionalism has been driven by ASEAN, it is of utmost urgency to investigate the emerging partnership between Japan and ASEAN. The central thesis of this study is thus to put Japan's ASEAN policy into a proper perspective by asserting that Japan's new policy initiatives towards ASEAN are not reactive, nor are they exceptions in a broader framework of merely reactive foreign policy.

This work is the result of collaborative research between ASEAN and Japanese scholars. It consists of two parts. The first focuses on the experiences and technology development efforts in ASEAN by ASEAN researchers. The second focuses on Japanese researchers’ perceptions on ASEAN needs and performances in technology development; and Japan’s historical experience as a recipient of international technology transfer

Advancing the Regional Commons in the New East Asia highlights a number of interests which members of ASEAN and Plus Three countries collectively recognize. This set of common interests includes not only economic development but also social development. Written by nationals in their respective countries, the different chapters in this volume highlights the different foundations for such common interests and these reflect the different constructive ways in which ASEAN and Plus Three countries come to see a multi-strand cooperative partnership. The task of advancing the regional commons will involve efforts to recognise and nurture ASEAN’s and Plus Three’s common interests in terms of broad social development, managing regional security issues, the development of a regional infrastructure, and ensuring collective progress for all member countries. ASEAN becomes a community in 2015 and the idea of embracing, protecting, sustaining and advancing the regional commons become a vital process. Concurrently, APT has also realized that its contribution to the achieving goal of community and promoting regional commons is absolutely critical for both ASEAN and the Plus Three countries. Academics will find in this volume a clear analytical treatment of issues which regional groupings are currently facing and this can provide the basis for a comparative analysis. This volume will also be of interest to students and the general public looking for a systematic introduction to the successful implementation of cooperative ventures and also an assessment of the new collaborative energies which shape this dynamic region.

This report, the first in the ASEAN Studies Centre report series, begins with a brief account of the important points raised during the discussions made at the workshop on "The ASEAN Community: Unblocking the Roadblocks," organized by the ASEAN Studies Centre and the Regional Economic Studies Programme on 15 April 2008. The first endeavour in which the new ASEAN Studies Centre was actively involved, the closed-door workshop gathered Southeast Asian experts on ASEAN for what was essentially a brainstorming session on the nature of the ASEAN Community that the association aspires to be, segmented into its three pillars - the ASEAN Economic Community, the ASEAN Security Community, and the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community. The session examined the benefits expected from regional community building for the people of Southeast Asia and the obstacles that lay on the way to its achievement. The workshop suggested certain measures for removing those obstacles. It then discussed the newly signed ASEAN Charter: the significance of its provisions, how it could help build the ASEAN Community, and how it might fall short of doing so. The workshop also heard a short briefing on the aims and functions of the ASEAN Studies Centre and proffered suggestions for it.