'The UK, Europe and Japan: Forging a New Security Partnership', RUSI Journal, Vol. 158, No. 6 (December 2013) (original) (raw)

The European Union’s Security Relations with Asian Partners

The European Union’s Security Relations with Asian Partners, 2021

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East Asian Security Revisited in Light of the European Experience

This paper analyzes the relevance of the European integration experience for East Asia's future security architecture. Similar to what happened in Europe, the paper argues, there may be a need for a cathartic process of remembrance and reconciliation in East Asia to help transcend historical legacies and create a solid foundation for integration. Considering the multi-faceted nature of security threats, moreover, it is hypothesized that the main ingredient of the European success strategy-the institutionalization of trust on multiple levels which, at least in some issue areas, requires the voluntary curtailment of states' autonomy-is likely to be emulated in the long run. A mini case study scrutinizes the essential elements of reconciliation (remembrance, restitution, apology) and shows how they enabled Germany to confront its past successfully, whereas Japanese attempts to transcend historical legacies thus far have fallen short. The paper then sketches several European institutional arrange-

The US–Japan Alliance and the Rise of China: Implications for the East Asian Security Order and the EU’s Regional Role

China, the European Union and Global Governance

The US-Japan alliance, based on the 1951 bilateral Security Treaty, is one of Washington's main military partnerships that comprise America's "hub and spoke" security system in East Asia. As a product of the Cold War's bipolarity, the security arrangements between Tokyo and Washington served a purpose to deter the communist threat and expansion. However, the structural changes in East Asia after 1989 necessitated a redefinition of the alliance's strategic rationale. Those changes included the disappearance of the common enemy of the Soviet Union, the emergence of new security challenges, notably related to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea) nuclear developments, and, last but not least, China's rise and consolidation of its status as a major power in East Asia. In order to respond to the altered regional and global security environment, Tokyo and Washington needed to reconsider the Cold War division of allies' roles whereby the US was committed to Japan's defence, while Japan provided only bases and hostnation support to the US military forces. 1 Since the mid-1990s, the bilateral alliance has been redefined, and its scope now includes both regional and global dimensions. The US-Japan security ties saw a period of unprecedented deepening during the term of former Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro (2001-2006), with Tokyo becoming an even stronger supporter of the American-led regional security order. Beijing, however, saw the consolidation of the alliance as directed at China and hence seeking to constrain its rising power in East Asia, notably by having impact on the Taiwan issue. The deterioration in Sino-Japanese ties under Koizumi reinforced the security dilemma between the bilateral alliance and the PRC, as well as Beijing's perception of Tokyo as a major tool in Washington's strategy of maintaining its primacy in East Asia. However, several new trends have emerged in the relations between Japan, China and the US in the post-Koizumi era and since Barack Obama became US President in 2009. These include stabilisation in Sino-Japanese ties, Tokyo's pro-Asia diplomacy under Prime Minister Hatoyama Yukio (2009-present), and America's increased focus on nontraditional security issues and multilateral engagement of East Asia under Obama. This paper examines the post-Cold War dynamics between the US-Japan alliance and China, and assesses its impact on the evolving security order in East Asia. It also explores the potential for the EU to strengthen its security engagement with the region, especially in the context of the recent trend in East Asia towards multilateral cooperation on non-traditional issues. The paper first analyses the strengthening of the US-Japan alliance and Japan's so-called security "normalisation", especially accentuated during Koizumi's term in office, before focusing on the manifestation in East Asia of strategic mistrust and security dilemma between Tokyo and 1 This division of tasks was based on Articles 5 and 6, respectively, of the revised 1960 Security Treaty. 2 Washington, and Beijing. The discussion then explores recent trends of engagement and cooperation by looking at the Sino-Japanese relations post-Koizumi, Hatoyama's diplomatic priorities and Obama's East Asia approach. Finally, the paper examines the primary components of the evolving security order and outlines the EU's involvement. It concludes by arguing that while the US-led security system continues to be a main provider for East Asian stability, it is increasingly complemented by regional multilateralism in non-traditional security areas, which opens up the way for Europe's strengthened engagement with the region. Alliance Enhancement and Japan's Security "Normalisation" A series of external pressures in the 1990s served as a catalyst for a redefinition of the US-Japan alliance and Japan's security policy. The 1994 North Korean nuclear crisis exposed the lack of military operability of the alliance, while the 1996 Taiwan Strait Crisis and the 1998 North Korean missile launch over Japan further heightened Tokyo's regional threat perceptions. The Japan-US response to these developments was the revision in 1997 of the bilateral Defence Guidelines, which committed Japan's Self-Defence Forces (SDF) to extend non-combat rear-area support to the US military during regional security crises. The result was a broadening of the alliance's scope from a narrow focus on Japan's defence, which was its primary focus during the Cold War, to include regional contingencies. Ambiguously defined in the guidelines as "situations in areas surrounding Japan", the new strategic rationale for Tokyo and Washington was to tackle "latent, unspecified sources of instability" in East Asia. 2 As will be discussed later in the paper, this definition led to apprehensions in Beijing regarding the potential inclusion of a Taiwan conflict in the remit of US-Japan security cooperation, signalling also that "Tokyo moved from protégé to partner" 3 of Washington. It was, however, in the wake of 9/11 and during the term of Prime Minister Koizumi that the strategic convergence of Tokyo and Washington on traditional security issues became more accentuated. By strengthening its defence ties with the US, expanding SDF overseas missions and modernising its military capabilities, Japan under Koizumi not only became a more reliable ally to America, arguably exceeding the expectations of the George W. Bush administration (2001-2009), but also increasingly came to be seen by a number of analysts as moving towards security "normalisation". 4 Indeed, Koizumi, a strong advocate of Japan's more robust foreign policy,

Emerging Us-Japan Relations and Impact on East Asian Security

Margalla Papers

States with shared interests and values may form a collective identity to enact their vision and achieve security objectives against those they view as threats. Similarly, US-Japan relations have progressed for a long, not just due to the dangers posed by China and North Korea but because of their shared values of democracy, human rights, peace, and global prosperity. They share the vision of a Free and Open Indo-Pacific by forming bilateral and multilateral alliances. The US and Japan are also engaged in strategic partnerships for traditional and non-traditional security in the region, including maritime, cyber, space, and energy. This paper, therefore, focuses on East Asia due to its vulnerable security architecture and explores how the US and Japan’s security cooperation strengthens regional security by sharing values and security concerns. It highlights that the potential of both states to form a collective identity may improve the security situation in East Asia. Bibliography...

Asia-Pacific Review Japan's Choices in a Changed Security Environment

China's rise and clear ambition to change Asia poses both tactical and strategic questions, long neglected in Japan. Tactically, territorial challenges can be countered effectively by use of Anti-Access Area Denial [A2/AD] tactics, as Japan is now doing. The strategic issues: how to deal with a hostile nuclear super-power neighbor, counter nuclear blackmail, and so forth, are far more difficult. This author believes that US "extended deterrence" no longer exists. Washington in fact would never use nuclear weapons to defend Japan, whatever promises have been made. The only answer, and one that decreases rather than increases the possibility of conflict, is for Japan to acquire within a decade a minimal nuclear deterrent, too small for war-making but adequate to prevent attack, such as those maintained by Britain and France, who know America best. Without such a deterrent Japan will be defenseless against inevitable Chinese nuclear threats and blackmail.

Europe's Area of Maritime Interest in Northeast Asia

Rome, IAI, December 2022, 12 p. (IAI Papers ; 22|33), ISBN 978-88-9368-278-7, 2022

Participation in the monitoring of UN sanctions on North Korea is Europe's most prominent operational contribution to Indo-Pacific security, but is also characterised by a fragmented, bilateral approach that contradicts the trajectory of recent European policies that strive for a more meaningful and coordinated investment in this area. A coordinated European presence in the region built around the sanctions monitoring task is within reach, and steps taken to achieve it would dramatically enhance the policy coherence and impact of European action on Northeast Asian security. * Philip Shetler-Jones is James Cook Associate Fellow in Indo-Pacific Geopolitics at the Council on Geostrategy, London. The contents of this article reflect the private views of the author, and are in no way related to or representing those of employers past of present.

Common Security in the Asia-Pacific Region

The Pacific Review, 1992

This paper considers ways in which ideas and assumptions about 'defensiveness' and territorial defence (including at sea), often associated with the broader concept of common security, figure in the Asia-Pacific regional conversation about future security arrangements and the resolution of regional security problems.