Newly appointed Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga plans to visit Southeast Asia this month largely as a gesture of support for U.S. geopolitical interests that include joining hands with smaller countries keen on resisting Chinese expansion, experts say. “Basically, (Suga) wants to burnish his diplomatic credentials, because generally Suga-san is known to be a domestic policy elite, so he is not as predisposed toward foreign policy like his predecessor,” said Dr Collin Koh, a maritime security Research Fellow at RSIS.