CGP U.S.-Japan alliance

The U.S.-Japan Alliance
Preparing for Korean Reconciliation & Beyond

By Charles M. Perry and Toshi Yoshihara

The U.S.-Japan alliance is among the most successful and enduring security partnerships to have emerged from the Cold War era. Today, the alliance continues to underpin Japan's national security, and it remains the foundation from which the United States fulfills many of its responsibilities in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond. That durability, however, could be more severely tested in coming years by the process of strategic change on the Korean Peninsula and by the emergence of new security priorities for the alliance in the aftermath of the September 11 terror attacks on the United States.

As it looks ahead, the U.S.-Japan alliance must balance between the ongoing need to plan for traditional challenges of long standing and new-found but equally compelling pressures to prepare more effectively for emerging security risks that will largely define the future. This study explores how Washington and Tokyo may be able to achieve such a balance, building both on efforts underway since the late 1990s to re-energize the alliance and on the potential for a more active security partnership with a far wider strategic horizon. The authors examine recent developments in U.S. and Japanese security planning, likely trends with regard to Korean reconciliation and its potential impact on the U.S.-Japan alliance, broader U.S-Japan alliance management issues, and the prospects for a new regional security framework stemming from alliance-based preparations for a Northeast Asia that may sport in time a reconciled if not reunified Korea. As a policy guide, the study identifies key priorities and tasks for the United States and Japan that can help to ensure the alliance's long-term relevance and vitality.

2003, 184 pp, $18.00
ISBN:1-57488-725-4