韓国・文在寅政権の地域主義外交と「新南方政策」――「インド太平洋戦略」と「一帯一路」の狭間のミドルパワー外交

抄録

The main purpose of this paper is to examine the strategic implication of the ‘New Southern Policy’ advocated by the Moon Jae-in administration of the Republic of Korea, in the context of emerging debate on the Indo-Pacific. The Moon Administration, since its inauguration in May 2017, has presented the vision of ‘Northeast Asia Plus Community of Responsibility,” which consisted of three pillars such as the Northeast Peace and Cooperation Platform, New Northern Policy, and New Southern Policy. While much attention is given to the Northern aspect of the proposal, in relation to the issue of North Korea, the under-studied New Southern Policy deserves in-depth analysis as an attempt for a middle-power regionalist diplomacy.

With the framework of its New Southern Policy, ROK government strives to find a middle way between the US-led ‘Free and Open Indo-Pacific’ (FOIP) Strategy and China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). What is new and significant in Moon’s regionalist diplomacy is the attempt to align with other regional middle-powers such as Indonesia and India, which share concern over emerging geopolitical rivalries and economic tensions in the Indo-Pacific region.