Japan

Strengthening the US-Japan Alliance

On February 26, 2014, the Atlantic Council’s Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security held a not-for-attribution roundtable briefing on the US-Japan alliance and what it portends for US extended deterrence in Asia. The briefing featured Mira Rapp-Hooper, Stanton nuclear security fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and was presided over by project co-chair Richard […]

Overblown Rhetoric Exaggerates Proliferation Risks of Japan-Turkey Nuclear Cooperation

By Jessica Varnum

The international community faces many grave nuclear proliferation challenges. Possible nuclear energy cooperation between Japan and Turkey is not one of them, although a January 8th editorial in Japan’s second most widely read newspaper, the Asahi Shimbun, suggested otherwise. It  called for an “urgent rethink” of the bilateral nuclear cooperation agreement currently under consideration by […]

China Ascendant: Is Conflict Inevitable?

By Rajan Menon

Thucydides’ purpose in his great epic was to account for “what led to this great war falling upon the Hellenes.” He acknowledged that what we know as the Peloponnesian War was produced by many different disputes and depicted them masterfully, laying bare their specificities. But, in the opening pages, he warns us that dwelling on […]

The Case for Japanese Militarization

By Kathryn Alexeeff

The ongoing dispute between China and Japan in the South China Seas has led to increased focus on the future of Japanese security. Since the end of World War II, Japan’s constitution has forbidden it from developing a military, but Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has indicated his desire to develop a more active security role for Japan. As the United […]

Coming Soon: the Un-Pivot to Asia

By Sarwar Kashmeri

The re-balancing of United States interests in the Far East, the so called “pivot to Asia” that was announced two years ago by the Obama administration, is now stuck in neutral. That is because what the world is witnessing on the Korean Peninsula is good old-fashioned power politics: A move by China to re-balance its […]

Methane Hydrates: A Second Gas Revolution?

By Robert Manning

Speculation is rampant that a new gas cornucopia is coming. After a successful Japanese experiment to extract natural gas from methane hydrates 1,000 meters below the surface and 50 miles off its shores, some are beginning to wonder if the “shale revolution” was just the beginning. But don’t hold your breath. There is no question […]

Shinzo Abe’s ASEAN Tour Stresses Regional Tension

By Robert Manning

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s trip to key ASEAN states Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand this week is a sign of the times in East Asia, one of tense Sino-Japanese relations, geopolitical competition, and strategic counterbalancing.