Why Indo-Pacific countries will miss 'Abe Model' more than Japan

This was a prime minister who, for better or worse, seemed to see himself first of all as a convener of and evangelizer to the democracies of a "free and open" Indo-Pacific

A month before he ended his first stint as Japan’s prime minister in 2007, Shinzo Abe addressed the Indian Parliament in New Delhi. Quoting the Mughal scholar-prince Dara Shikoh, Abe spoke of the “confluence of the two seas” — the Indian and Pacific Oceans — that were undergoing a “dynamic coupling as seas of freedom and of prosperity.” India and Japan, said Abe, shared an interest in and responsibility for securing these seas “by joining forces with like-minded countries.”

In the years since, it has become commonplace to speak of the “Indo-Pacific.” Abe’s vision, as expressed then, is now integral to