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Japan remains most trusted power in Southeast Asia despite military build-up: survey
According to the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute's annual survey, Japan remains the most trusted power in Southeast Asia, with 65.6% confidence, despite its military build-up and constitutional reform efforts. The survey also reveals Singapore's rise as the perceived leader in addressing regional challenges, surpassing Indonesia.
Japan retains its position as the most trusted external power in Southeast Asia, according to the latest annual survey by the Singapore-based ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute. The survey, released on April 7 and involving 2,008 respondents from across the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), shows that 65.6% of respondents expressed confidence in Japan, down slightly from 66.8% last year. This trust persists despite Japan's ongoing military build-up and efforts to amend its pacifist constitution, particularly Article 9, which formally recognises the Self-Defence Forces and legally justifies their expanded scope.
Coverage Comparison
Two separate reports from the South China Morning Post highlight different aspects of the survey. One focuses on Japan's continued trustworthiness, noting that the EU and the US were trusted by 55.9% and 44% of respondents respectively, with China coming in fourth at 39.8% and India fifth at 38.5%. Another report examines regional leadership dynamics, revealing that Singapore has overtaken Indonesia as the Asean member state perceived to have contributed most to addressing key regional challenges.
Key Claims
Japan is the most trusted power in Southeast Asia, with 65.6% confidence among survey respondents.
The EU and the US follow with 55.9% and 44% trust respectively, while China (39.8%) and India (38.5%) lag behind.
Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party is pushing to amend the constitution, particularly Article 9, to formally recognise the Self-Defence Forces.
Singapore leads as the Asean member state most contributed to addressing regional challenges, with 31.3% of respondent mentions, followed by Indonesia (22.2%) and Malaysia (21.3%).
Perspectives
From regional analysts, Japan's high trust rating requires transparency and assurance that its military-related actions will contribute to regional security, especially given its constitutional reforms. Meanwhile, Singapore's perceived leadership is attributed to its economic influence in shaping regional discussions, whereas Indonesia's strength lies in its consensus-building within the bloc. The shift in perception of Indonesia's role may be linked to President Prabowo Subianto's preference for pursuing Jakarta's ambitions outside the regional framework.
How this outlet told it
South China Morning Post
Framing: Japan's trustworthiness in Southeast Asia — neutral
Facts Included:
Japan is the most trusted power among Southeast Asian countries
65.6% of Southeast Asian respondents expressed confidence in Japan
The EU and the US were trusted by 55.9% and 44% of survey respondents respectively
China came in fourth at 39.8% and India at 38.5%
Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party is pushing to amend the country's constitution
Each row is one claim, attributed to the outlet whose wording states it most clearly. Confidence rates how directly the source text states the claim — explicit and unhedged rates high; hedged, pieced-together, or internally inconsistent statements rate lower. It does not measure whether the claim is true. Status counts the distinct outlets we found asserting it — so a single-source claim can still show high confidence, and a multi-source claim can show medium. Every one of those outlets is named beside the status, so you can check the count against the list. For claims extracted before we began storing that list, the row says so: it names the outlet the claim is quoted from and states that we have not recorded which outlets backed it. Outlets wrote at different times, so a figure that evolves — a casualty count, for example — can legitimately differ between rows; check the "as of" time next to each claim's source.
Claim
Confidence
Status
ClaimJapan is the most trusted power among Southeast Asian countries, with 65.6% of Southeast Asian respondents expressing confidence in it.
ClaimIndonesia has ceded its position as Asean's natural leader to Singapore, with 31.3% of respondents choosing Singapore as the country that contributed most to addressing key regional challenges.
ClaimSingapore's economic leadership in shaping regional discussions is a key factor in its perceived contribution to addressing key regional challenges.