New U.S.-Japan Defense Guidelines Deepen Alliance Cooperation (CRS Report for Congress)
| Release Date |
April 28, 2015 |
| Report Number |
IN10265 |
| Report Type |
Insight |
| Authors |
Rinehart, Ian E. |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
Summary:
In recent years, the U.S.-Japan alliance has evolved in response to changes in Japanese defense policies and the regional security environment in East Asia. The alliance originally was constructed as an asymmetric arrangement --Japan hosts U.S. military bases in exchange for an unreciprocated security guarantee from the United States-- but this partnership is shifting incrementally toward more equality. Japan boasts its own sophisticated defense assets and has taken steps that could lead to more involvement in U.S.-led military operations around the world. The United States, meanwhile, rhetorically has ratcheted up its commitment to defend Japan, including the small, uninhabited islands (called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China) that Japan administers but China claims as its territory. The new bilateral Mutual Defense Guidelines (MDG), which the United States and Japan announced at a high-level meeting on April 27, provide policy guidance for more integrated U.S.-Japan defense cooperation. Yet, questions persist about the direction and extent of Japan's security policy reforms. [â¦]Since the early 2000s, Japan has increased incrementally the emphasis on the security dimension of its foreign policy, and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has accelerated this trend since returning to power in late 2012. Previous Japanese governments in the post-war era had held that the exercise of collective self-defense (defending another country that has been attacked) would violate Article 9 of the Japanese constitution. In July 2014, the Abe Cabinet issued a Cabinet Decision that changed the official interpretation of the constitution to permit the exercise of collective self-defense under certain conditions, alongside other security policy reforms.
