Opposing positions in Japan’s security policy: Toward a new security dynamic

This paper examines the policy positions that relate to the U.S.-Japan security relationship. Three different positions are analyzed in this paper: the current position that is working to maintain the existing bilateral security relationship, and two others that see major problems with it. Of these two, one position supports ending or changing significantly the bilateral security alliance and would, for the most part, force Japan to rearm so that it could defend itself without assistance from the United States under normal circumstances. The other position, which supports the termination of the existing security arrangement, argues that Japan can play a leading role in the development of a global disarmament agenda by helping to build strong and viable international and regional security structures. This position documents that Japan's peace constitution and its strong desire to strengthen the United Nations and eliminate all nuclear weapons uniquely qualify it to make an international contribution that provides real security to all nations.     

Japan's security strategy: Meeting the needs of a new era

A new era has dawned, but the US and Japan remain in a security relationship of parent to child, says Toshiyuki Shikata, professor of inter‐cultural studies at Teikyo University and retired lieutenant general in Japan's Ground Self‐Defense Force. He draws on his familiarity with security issues to examine Japan's strategic challenges in the new era, Japan's role in the alliance, and Japan's defense modernization. He denounces avoiding international security responsibilities due to alleged constitutional constraints, and says that a seat on the UN Security Council would allow Japan to share the full risks and responsibilities in discharging international obligations.     

Good governance and security: The limits of Australia's new aid programme

This article analyses the Australian Agency for International Development's (AusAID) approach to overseas development assistance (ODA) through an examination of AusAID's recent White Paper. The White Paper focuses on the nexus between poverty reduction and security in the Asia-Pacific region. We argue that the Paper's emphasis upon good governance as the key to poverty reduction and security is fundamentally flawed. This stems from the particular ideological and political conditions in which the Paper materialised. In focusing on good governance and security the Paper neglects more fundamental poverty reduction issues, while promoting policies that are difficult to implement and, when implemented, have highly problematic outcomes. This article examines the Australian-led intervention in Solomon Islands and the Australian aid programme in Indonesia as examples for the shortcomings of the approach articulated in the White Paper. We conclude by examining alternative development policies that move beyond the neo-liberal orthodoxy endorsed by AusAID.     

US security strategy in Asia and the prospects for an Asian regional security regime

The US–Japan alliance serves as the cornerstone of US security strategy in East Asia. The Bush administration remains supportive of efforts by Japan to become a more “normal” nation and is expected, during its second term, to continue to encourage Tokyo to play a more active role in regional security (while refraining from open pressure or from meddling in the debate over constitutional revision). The Pentagon's ongoing Global Force Review will likely result in some modest adjustments in the US military footprint in Japan, but with no lessening of Washington's overall commitment or ability to respond to regional crises. Meanwhile, Washington will continue to support institutionalized multilateral mechanisms (including sub-regional efforts that do not include the US) as useful means to promote regional security and coordinate counter-terrorism efforts, while relying on ad hoc coalitions (or unilateral actions if necessary) to address specific threats to its own security or to the security of its allies.     

Japanese security policy in transition: The rise of international and human security

This paper traces the transformation of postwar Japanese “one-country pacificism” toward development into diplomacy based on the concept of human security.     

Impact of the 1993 Chinese student protection act on American and Chinese societies

To protect Chinese students from possible political persecution, in 1993 a U.S. presidential executive order took effect, declaring that all Chinese nationals who came to the States before April 12, 1990, were eligible to apply for permanent residency in the United States. It is estimated that 50,000 Chinese students and their dependents obtained green cards, and the number is still growing today. This article analyzes how this group of immigrants changes the Chinese American community in its overall educational and occupational attainment, and how it affects China in its democratic progress. Due to their high educational achievement, these student immigrants will be a positive input to the Chinese American community in its educational and occupational attainment, and their stay also diversifies Chinese America in its demographic composition. On the other hand, although their stay in America will not severely affect China’s scientific development, since they can and do come back to China to offer help in that respect, it does have a detrimental effect on the growth of a news-born professional class in China and thus generates a negative impact on China’s long-term democratic progress. From this perspective, the article concludes that the Protection Act was politically short-sighted.     

Oil,arms procurement and security in the Persian gulf

Professor Anoushiravan Ehteshami is Professor of International Relations at the University of Durham. He is also Vice-President of the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies (BRISMES). His most recent publications include The Foreign Policies of Middle East States (co-editor, 2002), Iran and Eurasia (co-editor, 2000) and The Changing Balance of Power in Asia (1998).     

Human security and Africa: Polemic opposites

A critique of the lack of transparency in international economic institutions and the impact this has on democracy and development.     

China and Northeast Asian regional security cooperation

Northeast Asia is a particularly complex area in the world, especially in terms of security. China advocates a new concept of security based on equality, mutual benefits, consultation and cooperation. China is making great efforts to reduce regional hot issues and lower regional tensions under the conditions that a regional security framework has not been completely established. In recent years, China has actively participated in regional security cooperation and promoted the construction of a security institution. The Six-Party Talks are of great significance not only for resolving the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula, but also for forming a relatively formal framework of security organization. Among the various East Asian security cooperative relationships, that of China–Japan–Korea is critical with regard to East Asian stability. At the same time, however, China should face and deal with some problems concerning the promotion of Northeast Asian security cooperation such as how to regard the presence of US–Japan and US–Korean military alliance, let Korea play the dominating role in Northeast Asian security cooperation and eliminate the Cold War mentality.     

印度尼西亚国内政策和印尼与中国的关系

[编者按]为了推动学术交流,中国社科院亚太研究所最近成立了亚太论坛.论坛主要邀请国内外著名专家学者、政府高官、外国驻华大使和我国驻外大使,就亚太地区的重要问题做学术讲座.2001年11月29日论坛邀请印尼驻华大使库斯蒂亚(Aa Kustia)先生就印尼国内政策以及中国与印尼的关系发表讲演.     

The Asianization of East Asian security and the United States’ role

The Asianization of East Asian security has been unfolding in the forms of the emergence of a genuinely regional security complex, the Asian initiative of security dialogue, and the assertion of an Asian way of diplomacy. Ironically, the uncertainties surrounding the United States' role are a key factor driving regionalization and, at the same time, a critical security issue in the emerging regional security complex. The essentiality of the U.S. role provides Washington with key leverage to ensure a role commensurate with its centrality in East Asian security. In light of the danger and opportunities regionalization presents for U.S. policy, it is vital to distinguish rhetoric from reality and to discern paradoxical developments in the Asianization movement. By its continued commitment to working with other regional powers, and its activism in promoting security multilateralism through ASEAN-Regional Forum (ARF), the U.S. can ensure that regionalization leads to an Asia-Pacific security complex that contains threats wherever they arise.