U.S.-Japan Security Cooperation and Asia-Pacific Security
Author: Philip Y.M. Yang
Abstract / Chinese PDF Download
The U.S.-Japan security alliance is viewed by many leaders in the Asia-Pacific region as the most important stabilizing factor for maintaining security in the region. Though it is a bilateral treaty in its nature, the U.S.-Japan security cooperation has unique impact and importance in regional security environment. The article will address some significant issues resulted from the newest review in 1997 of the guidelines of the security alliance between the major countries both in the region and international society. The paper first discusses the evolution of the security alliance, from the treaty signed in 1951, revised provisions of 1960, first guidelines of 1978, and the latest review of the guidelines in 1997. From the text analysis of some important provisions and concepts in the forty-year long security cooperation, the paper reveals the major developments of the security alliance. The second part of the paper focuses on three core implications of the U.S.-Japan security alliance for the security environment in the Asia-Pacific. These factors are as follows: the U.S. military presence, the changing role of Japan in security affairs, and the meaning and influence of the “Far East clause” or “areas surrounding Japan” in the document of the security cooperation. The theoretical explanations and implications of the U.S.-Japan security alliance will be discussed in the final part of the paper. The author argues that the bilateral military cooperation between the U.S. and Japan can be regarded as the collective self-defense mechanism under the idea of collective security. Furthermore, the security alliance also can be viewed, from the realist ideas of international security, as the combination of the status-quo countries under the idea of balance of threat to demonstrate their determination to maintain peace and security in the region.