Japan called for stronger ties with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in an annual report on foreign aid Friday, saying they were vital to ensuring its national security at a time when China's influence in the region is growing.
Seeing the 10-member regional bloc not only as an "extremely important market" and "place for investment," the ODA White Paper for 2014 said, "Achieving growth and stability in ASEAN has a great significance as well to Japan's security when thinking about how the distribution network for goods underpinning the Japanese economy runs through the region."
The report was approved by the Cabinet a month after the country's Development Cooperation Charter, revised for the first time since 2003, highlighted Japan's stance of using official development assistance to protect its national interests in the wake of the changing global environment.