Once he winds up his planned two-day trip to Laos and Cambodia from Saturday, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will have visited all 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in less than a year since taking office in December.
It's a lightning pace compared to his predecessors, according to a Foreign Ministry official. Starting with Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia in January, Abe has traveled to 23 countries in 10 months, far more than any other prime minister during his tenure in the past decade.
The rise of China is responsible for Abe's frequent globe-trotting, pundits say. Checking in with ASEAN member countries is seen as a bid to deepen bonds to counter China's growing clout in the Asia-Pacific region.