Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's trumpeted plan to export conventionally powered submarines to Australia suddenly came to an unsuccessful end when Canberra decided to place the order with a French maker.
This was not merely a transitory case of Japan failing to sell a piece of defense-related equipment abroad. Abe had treated the submarine export deal as a top priority in his attempts both to counter China's maritime ambitions and to push his economic growth strategy.
It is no exaggeration to say that Abe stumbled in a touchstone test of his foreign policy. There are two essential points behind this failure. One was Abe's obsession with exporting submarines to Australia, far removed from strategic diplomatic thinking, and the other was the attitudes of government agencies and private enterprises characterized by their blindly following Abe's single-minded pursuit.