After watching dozens of webinars, including one co-hosted by the Canon Institute for Global Studies and the Stimson Center, it seems clear that no one knows what will happen to the international order in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The reason is obvious. COVID-19 only accelerates or exacerbates ongoing trends or courses of human action and inaction. Who will dominate solely depends on how people behave, not on the disease itself.
What Tokyo must do now is to come up with a road map for Japan to minimize the damage of pandemic and to maximize national and global interests. For the following reasons, Tokyo should start drafting an Indo-Pacific Charter for the post-pandemic world.