Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe has a fondness for airborne imagery when it comes to describing his country’s re-engagement with southeast Asia.
On a visit to Singapore last week, he likened the 10-nation bloc known as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and Japan to the two engines on an aeroplane – the aeroplane being a vast economic area that he sees stretching from the Pacific to the Indian Ocean.
Asean, Mr Abe asserted, would also feel the effect of the “three arrows” he had unleashed – a reference to the three-pronged structural reforms that underpin “Abenomics”. He said the region, with a population of more than 620m, would be “the 21st century’s champion in fostering the vast middle class consumer market”.
您已阅读16%（739字），剩余84%（3765字）包含更多重要信息，订阅以继续探索完整内容，并享受更多专属服务。