Securing Japan: The Current Discourse

A debate over grand strategy is underway in Japan, and its terms are familiar. Like their nineteenth- and twentieth-century predecessors, Japanese security planners choose between economic and military instruments, between hard and soft power, among alliance partners, and for or against construction of multilateral security regimes. The revisionists who came to power in the early 2000s may supplant the Yoshida Doctrine with one of their own. Many are critical of the U.S. alliance and eager to achieve greater sovereignty, but few advocate a complete break. All agree that a nondemocratic China is inimical to Japanese interests. The "middle power" road—amended to allow a fuller hedge against Chinese power and American decline—is in the offing.