The U.S.-Japan Security Alliance: Why It Matters and How to Strengthen It

by Osius, Ted

• ISBN13: 9780275978051
• ISBN10: 0275978052
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-05-30
• Publisher: Greenwood Pub Group

Summary

For more than three decades, the multifaceted alliance between the United States and Japan has contributed significantly to the security of Japan and the maintenance of peace and security in the Far East. With the end of the Cold War, new sources of potential threats have arisen at a time when Japan's national self-confidence has been shaken by nearly a decade of economic stagnation, a highly fluid political situation, and an inadequate institutional structure for crisis management and strategy formulation. Osius examines how Japan is trying to redefine its identity from a nation whose constitution renounces war as a sovereign right to a "normal" country involved in United Nations peacekeeping operations and regional military relationships. In his initial chapters, Osius focuses on the purpose of the security alliance and argues that U.S.-Japanese interests coincide enough not only to sustain the alliance, but also to warrant strengthening and promoting it. He then examines the challenges and opportunities for an enhanced alliance over the next decade. Together, he maintains, the United States and Japan can address broadly defined security concerns, such as energy supply, weapons of mass destruction proliferation, transborder crime, piracy, and illegal narcotics, as well as environmental issues, infectious disease, economic development, and humanitarian and disaster relief. However, if it is to thrive, the U.S.-Japan alliance must remain dynamic rather than static and must be nurtured, sustained, and enhanced by both parties. An important analysis for policy makers, scholars, and students of U.S.-Japanese political and military relations and Asian Studies in general.

Author Biography

TED OSIUS is the State Departments' regional environmental affairs officer for Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

Table of Contents

Foreword	ix
Acknowledgments	xi
Preface	xiii
Defense of Japan	1	(8)
The Burdens of History	1	(1)
Contemporary Examples	2	(4)
U.S. and Japanese Interests	6	(1)
Options for the Future	6	(3)
The Korean Peninsula	9	(13)
U.S. Interests	9	(2)
Japanese Interests	11	(2)
The Current Situation on the Peninsula	13	(1)
Options for the Future	14	(1)
A New Deal?	15	(3)
The China Factor	18	(4)
Taiwan	22	(10)
U.S. and Japanese Interests	22	(2)
Fear of Entrapment	24	(3)
The Cross-Strait Situation	27	(1)
Options for the Future	28	(4)
China	32	(12)
A Triangular Relationship	32	(1)
U.S. Interests	33	(2)
Japanese Interests	35	(2)
Options for the Future	37	(2)
Human Rights	39	(1)
Energy and the Environment	40	(4)
The East Asian Region	44	(9)
U.S. and Japanese Interests in Russia	44	(1)
U.S. and Japanese Interests in Southeast Asia	45	(1)
Options for the Future	46	(3)
Security Communities	49	(1)
Humanitarian Activities	50	(1)
U.S. Overstretch	50	(3)
The Problem of Okinawa: A Shared Challenge	53	(13)
Background	53	(2)
The Burden	55	(3)
Reducing the Impact	58	(3)
Options for the Future	61	(1)
Economic Development	62	(1)
Discussing Why the Bases Matter	63	(3)
Japanese and U.S. Challenges and Opportunities	66	(15)
Japan's Dilemma	66	(3)
Peacekeeping	69	(1)
The Role of Japan's Self-Defense Forces	70	(3)
America's Challenge	73	(1)
America's Opportunity	74	(7)
Opportunities for a Strengthened Alliance	81	(12)
Strategic Dialogue	81	(2)
A New Strategic Framework	83	(4)
Theater Missile Defense	87	(2)
China's Opposition	89	(1)
Transnational and Multinational Cooperation	90	(3)
Bibliography	93	(6)
Index	99	(6)
About the Author	105