Abe’s vision behind his Russian policy How could we build a new regional order of peace, stability and prosperity in Asia, while dealing with China rapidly increasing its national power in terms of economy, technology, and military? This has been the most difficult challenge facing Asian countries including Japan since the late 2000s. In my view, two approaches have been taken by Japanese government to tackle this challenge. In terms of security, to preserve a strategic balance with China by encouraging the active involvement of the “inward-looking United States”, an allied country of Japan, in the Asian region, and at the same time by expanding the network of strategic partners to countries other than the United States, including Russia.