CIAO DATE: 10/05

U.S.-Japan Relations: Progress Toward a Mature Partnership

Foreword

In early 2000, a bipartisan group of then-former government officials, foreign policy and national security analysts, and interested scholars, concerned with a post—Cold War drift and loss of focus within the U.S.-Japan alliance, met under the auspices of the Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS) and the leadership of Richard Armitage and Joseph Nye to chart a course for the U.S.-Japan relationship in the new century. On October 11, 2000, INSS published The United States and Japan: Advancing Toward a Mature Partnership (hereinafter referred to as the Special Report).1 The present study was prepared by INSS Senior Research Fellow, James Przystup, one of the organizers of the 2000 study group. This study assesses the steps taken by the governments of the United States and Japan to implement the recommendations of the October 2000 Special Report and to chart a course for future action.

Released 11 months before September 11, 2001, the Special Report did not anticipate the profound transformation of the international security environment that followed the events of that tragic day. The U.S.- Japan alliance, however, has responded remarkably to the unprecedented challenges posed in the post-9/11 security environment. The cumulative effect of the policy decisions and attendant actions has been to transform the alliance into an instrument that enhances stability and security across the globe, thus supporting the national interests of both the American and Japanese people.

At the same time, the security challenges touched on in the initial report have not disappeared. The Korean Peninsula and the Taiwan Strait remain areas in which conflict affecting the vital national interests of the United States and Japan could arise, as the report observed, "at a moment's notice." North Korea's clandestine pursuit of nuclear weapons, in blatant violation of its international treaty commitments, stands as a challenge to stability and security in Northeast Asia, and the threat of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) from a cash-strapped North Korea to rogue states or international terrorists cannot be discounted. China's continuing missile buildup is having an adverse impact on the military balance in the Taiwan Strait. And, in Southeast Asia, ethnic and religious differences remain susceptible to both internal and external exploitation.

The threats posed by international terrorism and WMD proliferation, as well as the enduring challenges of maintaining security and prosperity in East Asia and globally, warrant close coordination of U.S. and Japanese national policies and further steps to enhance the alliance. We hope this paper will contribute to efforts to advance these goals.

Part 1 (PDF Format, 19 pages, 567.7 KB)
Part 2 (PDF Format, 29 pages, 649.5 KB)